Lost: SG1 style!
by Beka Alcott
Summary: Jack and Sam get stranded, after a test flight with the X302 goes awry. They struggle with the planet's customs, and their own developing relationship. Unashamedly SJ, but not until later chapters. Good things come to those who wait! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Lost: SG1 style!**

_Hey, here's my latest and longest story! I'm warning you, this thing is likely to go on for months, and I haven't finished writing it yet. I actually wrote the sequel before this part, so look out for that once this is done. I really hope you like it! I know it's been done to death, but hey, this is my take on it. Please let me know if it's any good!_

_**Summary:**__ Jack and Sam get stranded on an alien world in another galaxy, after a test-flight with the new X-302 goes awry. They struggle with the antiquated customs of the new world around them, and with their own developing relationship. Unashamedly SJ! But it's fairly subtle to begin with, and doesn't get really pronounced for quite a while. Good things come to those who wait!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own these characters. The nice people at MGM do. I think. Is it them?_

_**Spoilers:**__ Set in Season 6, after 'Abyss', but before 'Prometheus'. Daniel is ascended, which will become important later on. Also, as the story premise is that Sam and Jack get stranded off-world, the rest of the team won't appear in the story much. Just a warning. Oh, and I messed around with 'Fallen' at the end. That's it ... I think.  
_

_Enjoy!_

UPDATE: NOW COMPLETE, AND THE SEQUEL, 'FOUND: SG1 STYLE!' HAS BEEN POSTED!

* * *

"Main engine failure! Hyperdrive down! All we've got is the reverse burner!" Major Samantha Carter yelled from the second seat of the prototype X-302.

"What good will that do us?" Colonel Jack O'Neill yelled back.

"None whatsoever, if we fire that up now we'll be thrown into a very fast nose dive. We'll have to wait till we've entered the atmosphere and then use the 302's parachutes." Sam told him.

"Will that be enough?" Jack yelled over his shoulder to her.

"It'll have to be, we're out of options!" The USAF's latest fighter jet with naquadria fuelled hyperdrive (and other alien enhancements facilitating space travel) was falling very, very fast into the atmosphere of a blue and green planet similar to Earth, in a galaxy far away from the Milky Way. Sam and Jack had volunteered to pilot the bird for its first test of the new hyperdrive engine between galaxies. The theory was, if it worked, it could help them contact the Asgard more easily when necessary.

The hyperspace jump had worked perfectly. They had emerged, after a four hour jaunt in hyperspace, in the galaxy they'd designated Tigrus, near a planet with a breathable atmosphere, but some very strange electro-magnetic properties.

Immediately the X-302's systems began to fail. Sam barely had time to verify their position and frown at the planet's bizarre magnetic field, before the '302 began to veer towards it. Jack attempted to engage the engine to escape the planet's pull, but it began sputtering and died with a muffled bang. Their slow drift became an accelerating free fall, while the alarmed pilots tried and failed to find an engine that worked. Something in that magnetic field around the planet was killing each of the 302's systems as they were turned on.

The ill-fated machine fell down through the clouds, the colossal parachutes slowing its descent marginally. The Colonel and Major watched the sickening sight of the ground rushing to meet them. Jack shut his eyes tight, jaws locked together, and gripped his seat as he yelled:

"Brace for impact!"

* * *

Jack awoke, some time later, to the taste of blood and the acrid stench of burning. He kept his eyes closed while he assessed his injuries. A shake of each of his legs caused a twinge in his knees and back, but revealed no broken bones. He lifted his arms cautiously, flexing them slowly.

"Sir?"

Jack whipped his eyes open at the sound of his 2IC's voice.

"Carter? You alright?" He asked, closing his eyes again against the harsh daylight invading the cockpit.

Sam carefully unclipped her oxygen mask and safety belt, tentatively leaning forward, and winced as pain shot through her back.

"I think so sir. You?" She replied with a grimace, leaning back again.

"Fine." Jack replied shortly, opening his eyes again to survey the damage to the 302. "I'm not holding my breath for this bucket o' junk, though."

Looking out of the forward window, Jack saw a semicircle of people, simply dressed, staring in fear and curiosity at the downed bird.

"We got company." He commented to Sam. She was looking through her side windows at their audience critically.

"They don't look hostile, sir. We should get out in case the naquadria's stability has been compromised."

That made Jack pause. "What if it has?" He asked lightly. Sam lifted herself out of her seat slightly to force the top of the cockpit open.

"Then we get blown up." She answered frankly.

Together, Sam and Jack got the 302's hatch open, and climbed slowly and painfully out. Jack winced when he saw Sam. She had a bad burn on her left cheek and a small gash just below her hairline that was bleeding. He guessed her probably didn't look much better.

They discovered that the 302 had eventually stopped with its left wing resting on a felled tree. The pair slowly made their way down the red-hot wing, and then clambered awkwardly down to the ground via the unfortunate tree.

Jack and Sam limped painfully away from the smouldering space craft, towards the wary crowd. An old man stepped forward uncertainly.

"Hello. I am Kollen, a village elder. This is Amdra, our village." He said, gesturing to the cluster of wooden buildings in the distance beyond the trees and fields behind him.

Jack stepped towards him, suppressing a wince as his knees protested.

"Hello. I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, and this is Major Sam Carter." Sam smiled and nodded her head in greeting. "We're from a planet called Earth."

Kollen gasped. "Another planet?"

Jack and Sam exchanged weary looks. "Yes. There are . . . quite a lot of them out there." Jack told him. Kollen and his fellow villagers looked dumbfounded at this news.

"We're very sorry about crashing into your planet like this, but we sorta need a favour." Jack continued.

"Do you have a Stargate?" Sam asked. When receiving only blank looks, she tried again. "Chappa'ai?" Still nothing.

"It's a big, huge, stone ring with glowing chevrons and a big puddle that whooshes sideways . . ." Jack explained, gesticulating wildly.

Kollen exchanged bewildered looks with the others. "I am sorry, we have no such thing."

Jack sighed, his shoulders slumping. This wasn't going to be as easy as he'd hoped. Not that crash-landing a prototype spacecraft on an alien planet in a galaxy far, far away was ever supposed to be _easy._ He stole a glance at Sam. She looked worried.

One of the other villagers stepped forward. "Excuse me," he said in an accusatory tone, "are we to believe that you flew here through the stars themselves in that . . . that _contraption_, and then _accidentally_ crashed in _our_ village?"

Jack eyed the man stonily. _There's one on every planet._

"Yes." He replied shortly.

The trouble-maker looked quite taken-aback by this blunt response. "This is nonsense." He exclaimed to Kollen.

"Tomah," Kollen addressed the man, "did your eyes not just see this vessel fall from the sky? Where else could it have come from other than the stars?"

"That is not what I am disputing." Tomah argued. "If these people really have the means to traverse the great heavens, why would they come here, to our particular village, if not to launch an attack of retribution on behalf of the Gods?"

"Hey!" Jack cut in. "We didn't _mean_ to crash on your fine little planet. We certainly didn't get to pick which village to drop into either!"

"What do you mean by 'an attack of retribution on behalf of the Gods'?" Sam asked.

Kollen sighed, raising a hand to quiet Tomah. "Seven generations ago, our village, Amdra, rose up in rebellion over the beings who ruled our planet, our 'Gods'. We were victorious, and the Gods left. Some believe they will one day return to seek revenge on our village." He explained.

"Well we're certainly not here on their orders." Jack snapped.

Sam looked at him nervously. He was getting irritated and short-tempered, and she thought she should probably try to diffuse the situation.

"The 'Gods' as you know them are really an alien race known as the Goa'uld. Our people are at war with them." She said.

"You are enemies of the Gods?" Tomah repeated sceptically.

"Yes." Sam said firmly. Kollen smiled.

"Then you are welcome here. Come, we will treat your injuries, and provide you with food and shelter."

Jack saw Tomah cast an annoyed look at the older man, before reluctantly following the crowd to the village.

* * *

_Whaddaya think? Thanks for reading, please review! I'm very anxious to get feedback on this one, seeing as it's such a huge project of mine!_

_Beka_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Lost - part 2  
**_

* * *

Jack and Sam walked side by side behind Kollen as the old man led them towards the cluster of buildings they called Amdra. Sam was casting uncertain glances at Jack, which was starting to get on his nerves.

"What, Carter?" He snapped,

"I was thinking about what caused the crash, sir." She said after a moment.

"And . . ." He prompted.

"And – it seems unlikely that the electro-magnetic field we encountered is a natural phenomenon.."

Jack just looked at her. "So?"

"So, there may be a device around here causing it. If I can shut it off and fix the 302, we should be able to leave." She concluded.

Jack cast doubtful looks around at the villagers of Amdra. "They don't look all that advanced.

"No, but we've seen Goa'uld or Ancient technology left behind on primitive worlds before." Sam reasoned. "Remember Thor's Hammer?"

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Let's get to know them a little better before we go asking those sorts of questions. We don't want Smiley over there twisting it against us." He said, jerking his head at Tomah, walking some distance ahead of them.

They drew a lot of stares as they entered the village. Jack caught some of the women peeking out at them from behind curtained windows, and children stopped what they were doing to stare openly, particularly at Sam, Jack noticed. Sam was quick to realise why. There had not been any women in the crowd by the 302, and now there were very few out in the streets. The men had been casting suspicious glances at her since their arrival. Clearly this was a male-dominated society. Jack shot her a warning look. He knew how stubbornly feminist she could be in these situations.

They were led into a town hall of sorts, and then into a small chamber with a long table and six chairs, 3 on each side. Kollen and Tomah took seats on the far side, indicating that Sam and Jack should sit opposite. After a few minutes, a small woman with wispy grey hair but a round, almost youthful face, entered with a tray of bread and water.

"This is Karelle, my wife." Kollen introduced her. Karelle smiled at them, bowing slightly.

"It is very exciting to meet you." She said in a soft voice. She took a seat at the side of the room, away from the table, looking at Sam curiously.

"Please, eat." Kollen told his guests, pushing the tray towards them. Sam and Jack obediently took a piece of bread, and the water Karelle had poured out for them.

"Normally we would include our 3rd Council member, Nassem, in such an historic meeting, but he is away hunting. We were not expecting visitors." He said with twinkling eyes. "Now, tell us of yourselves."

Jack and Sam hesitated, not sure where to begin, while Tomah continued to eye them stonily. Sam told the two council members the basics – they were explorers from Earth, testing a new spacecraft they had developed for use in their war against the Goa'uld. Karelle's eyes were wide with amazement.

"And the Goa'uld are the Gods?" Kollen repeated carefully, frowning at the travellers.

"Yep. Bad guys." Jack supplied. "Glowing eyes, cliché behaviour, general evilness . . ." Tomah and Kollen exchanged concerned looks.

"Are you saying there are others like Lord Nefru and his elves?" Tomah asked.

"Elves?" Jack raised an eyebrow at Sam.

"Probably jaffa, sir." She commented.

"And Lord Nefru was the resident goa'uld here?" Jack checked. Kollen nodded.

"Then, unfortunately yes. There are hundreds of them, enslaving millions of humans in our home galaxy."

"What's interesting is that this is the first evidence we've found of Goa'uld activity in a different galaxy." Sam added. Jack gave her a look.

"Fascinating." He said sarcastically.

"When will your kind come to rescue you?" Kollen asked. Jack thought about it, looking at Sam.

"We don't know." He replied.

"There's a good chance they won't." Sam said quietly.

"But we can probably fix the ship." Jack added, giving Sam a meaningful look, which she carefully avoided.

"Well until then, you are welcome to stay in our village." Kollen smiled at them warmly, while Tomah looked annoyed.

* * *

_I know, the chapters are a little short, but the story will progress more quickly later! Honest! _

_I hope you like it so far. Please review! Even if you hate it! Constructive criticism, or even ideas for events that could happen in this galaxy far, far away, are very welcome!_

_ Beka :-)  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Lost - part 3**_

_Thanks to the six lovely people who've reviewed so far! Please keep those precious reviews coming . . . !  
_

* * *

On Kollen's orders, they were then taken to what they thought must be an infirmary, or hospital equivalent. It was a wooden structure like most of Amdra's buildings, with several beds in curtained off areas. Jack smirked. 

"Home sweet home."

"I'm almost expecting Janet to appear from nowhere wielding needles." Sam said grinning.

A man with greying hair, wearing what could only be likened to a priest's robe, approached them. Karelle explained the circumstances of the travellers arrival to him quietly, then with a small nod of the head, left them.

"Greetings. I am Haman, a healer. I understand you are injured." The doctor said to them, eyeing the burn on Sam's cheek with concern.

"Just a little. Nothing too serious." Jack said. "I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, this is Major Sam Carter."

Haman nodded impatiently. "I know, Karelle told me who you are. Please, take a bed."

Obediently, they each sat down on a bed, and were asked by nurses to detail their injuries, which they did, as best they could. Thankfully, they weren't required to strip, something Sam was extremely relieved about. Male doctors seeing her naked were bad enough, but _alien _male doctors in such a male-dominated society? No thank you.

About half an hour later, Healer Haman was done, and released them, having given them both cream for their burns, and covered their various scrapes with small bandages, that were almost, but not quite, like Tau'ri band-aids.

"I swear that guy is Fraiser's long lost twin." Jack grouched as they left, earning him a small smile from Sam.

* * *

They were led through the village again by Karelle, who seemed to have considerably more authority than most women on account of being a Council member's wife. The three of them stopped at a small hut towards the outer reaches of the village. It was made of wood, with shutters in the windows and a thatch roof. Karelle opened the door and beckoned the pair in. Inside it was dark, until Karelle pushed open the shutters to let in a harsh stream of light. The floor was wooden, like the walls, and a double bed stood in the middle of the floor, two thin blankets covering the straw mattress. There was barely enough room to walk down both sides of the bed. Karelle showed them an adjoining room, with a toilet and bath. 

"I am sorry for the quality of the room." She said. "The villagers move out of these older houses into the new ones as soon as they are built. We are in the process of replacing many of these. The new ones have hot water from the taps. You will have to heat the bath water in the fireplace I am afraid."

"That's fine. We don't mind roughing it for a while do we Carter?" Jack said, giving her a jovial punch on the arm. She rolled her eyes.

Karelle opened a cupboard on the left of the bed, withdrawing a pile of clothes. "You can wear these until you leave. It will mean you draw fewer stares in the streets." She said kindly, looking mainly at Sam. Sam gritted her teeth, dreading what the women's clothes in that pile would look like.

"I will leave you to change. The evening meal will be served in the centre of the village at sundown." Karelle said, bowing her head as she left.

Jack watched her go for a moment, then jumped on the bed cautiously. "Well, it's not the Ritz, but it's comfy." He quipped, offering a half-smile to Sam.

She sat down next to him, still scowling at the clothes.

"Ladies first." Jack grinned, nodding his head at the bathroom while dumping the clothes in her lap. Sam glared at him. _Men._

* * *

Sam looked at the sorry excuse for sensible clothing she wore with disdain. _Well at least it hasn't got lace or jewels like the Shavadai dress_, she thought miserably. It was a light brown dress, with a low cut corset style top that fastened at the front with a rough brown ribbon. The long sleeves were tight, and the skirt was long enough to cover her combat boots almost completely. There was a soft knock on the door. 

"Come on Carter, how long does it take to get changed? It's nearly dinner time." Jack whined. Well, complained, really. Colonels don't whine.

Sam closed her eyes and sighed. She wasn't going to enjoy this.

She opened the door and glared at the colonel defiantly, silently daring him to make his customary wise-ass comment. Jack's eyes travelled from the long flowing skirt, to the way the dress accentuated her slender waist, and finally got stuck at the tantalising show of cleavage peeking out of the low neckline. _Shit_, Jack thought, _why does she always have to look so God damned beautiful?_ He cleared his throat awkwardly, standing aside to let her out. Sam was feeling a little wrong-footed by the way he was looking at her, so . . . _entranced_. Jack shut the door quickly behind him, taking a moment to chant Sam's rank in his head, as if it would remind his disobedient eyes that _Major_ Sam Carter was strictly off-limits.

* * *

_So, what did you think? Please review, I can't tell you how much I appreciate them!_

_ Beka_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Lost - part 4**_

_Here's the fourth installment, and sorry it's short. There's more coming soon, honest! Hope you like it! Please review!  
_

* * *

  
Sam and Jack found the central dining area just as people had begun to sit down. It was a large area of wooden trestle tables and stools, under a massive brown canvas canopy, held up by metal poles. The whole thing was a construction that would make any good boy scout proud.

Kollen caught Jack's eye and waved them over to his table. He looked uneasily at Sam and then motioned for them to sit, starting to talk to them about the forthcoming meal.

Tomah approached the table with another ageing man who Jack assumed to be the 3rd council member – Nassem. They both stopped in shock when they saw Sam. Tomah gripped Kollen's forearm and drew him aside angrily. The two air force officers watched as the three old men had a heated whispered argument, with Tomah and Nassem throwing furious glances at Sam every so often.

Eventually, it appeared the Kollen had won the argument, as with a last dirty look at Jack and Sam, Tomah and Nassem left and sat at another table. Kollen rejoined the colonel and major wearily.

"What was that about?" Jack asked.

"You, Major." Kollen answered, looking at Sam almost apologetically.

"Let me guess, I've offended your culture by sitting out here with the men while the women cook and serve food." Sam said. At Kollen's surprised look she quickly explained: "We've come across many cultures similar to this."

"You are correct." Kollen nodded curtly. "I have asserted that you are a guest, and should be treated as such, but that excuse will only last you so long." He warned.

"Trust me, you don't want me anywhere near a kitchen. Perhaps I could help another way – I'm a scientist, and a bit of a mechanic, I could help you with any problems you may have with machinery, or I could help making them. Or maybe I could help with the hunting. I'm a crack shot with a gun." Sam offered brightly. Kollen looked shocked, horrified even, and Jack winced when the old man shot an unmistakeable 'is she kidding' look his way. Sam's smile faded when she realised her comment hadn't gone down so well. _Open mouth, insert foot . . . _

Jack hastily cleared his throat. "Actually Kollen, I need Carter to work on our ship. Her fixing it is probably our only way home."

Kollen nodded reluctantly. "Then you will be granted leave from kitchen duty on the grounds that you are carrying out repairs on the . . . _ship_, as ordered by your husband."

Both Jack and Sam visibly blanched. "Whoa, whoa, I'm not her husband!" Jack exclaimed. Kollen looked confused.

"You travel together." He stated. "A woman cannot travel without her husband or father, and you are too young to have fathered her."

This comment caused Jack to adopt a bit of a smug look, preening, and Sam to close her eyes, hating this planet more with each passing minute.

"In our culture a woman can travel wherever she likes with whomever she chooses. We work together, but we're not . . . you know . . ." Jack waved between the two of them.

"Married." Sam supplied wearily. Jack shot her a look of gratitude.

Kollen nodded in reluctant understanding. "It might be best if you refrain from mentioning this to others. A woman in Amdra has few rights, but an unmarried one, particularly of age, has even less."

Jack and Sam nodded, understanding now that they hadn't been given a double bed purely out of restricted availability. They had to pretend to be husband and wife.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Lost - part 5**_

_Okay, I've taken pity on you and added more after the painfully short nature of chapter 4. Aren't I generous?  
_

* * *

  
After the meal, Jack and Sam made their way wearily back to their wooden hut. The meal had been awkward, with men and women alike glaring at Sam, hating her for her 'unnatural' position among men, or shocked at her audacity. Karelle was among the latter, once she had joined her husband to eat. She was very curious about the Tau'ri visitors, and cautiously excited about the effect it could have on Amdra.

Jack flopped on the bed, wincing as his knees pulled. "Man, am I tired." He commented with a yawn.

Sam walked stiffly to the other side of the bed. "Please tell me the nightclothes are less restricting than this straight-jacket."

Jack looked up at her, noting the stiff upright position she held.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked.

"It's rubbing like crazy. And I bruised something in my back when we crashed that this is jabbing."

Jack was torn between amusement and concern. She did sound petulant, but on the other hand he knew her well – and she never complained about injuries unless it was causing her considerable discomfort.

"Did they give you anything for the bruising?" He asked.

"Like what? They're not exactly advanced."

"Are you sure it _is_ just bruising? You might have damaged your spine." Jack said, eyeing her lower back.

"How do you tell?"

"You can feel it with your hands. If you have you probably shouldn't be moving around so much till the doctors have done something about it." He advised her.

She sighed. "I'll go see if I can feel anything." She said, rummaging through the clothes pile and snagging a night dress.

10 minutes later, Jack sat up when Sam came out of the bathroom. He concentrated very, very hard on keeping his eyes off her long legs, exposed by the short thin night dress.

"I can't tell. It kinda hurts when I prod it too much as well." Sam announced, annoyed at herself.

Jack hesitated. "Do you . . . ah . . . I mean, should I . . ."

"Play doctor?" Sam supplied with a tired smile.

"Well, I wouldn't put it quite like that, but –"

"– but you know what you're looking for." She walked towards the bed, and, after a moment's hesitation, lay down on her stomach.

Jack gulped. He so didn't want to be doing this. For one thing, he didn't want to hurt her, and for another, touching _that_ part of her body just felt a little too . . . close.

Reluctantly, he knelt beside her, and ran a tentative hand over her lower back before applying pressure, feeling her spinal column carefully through her dress.

"Ow." Sam stated bluntly after giving a sharp hiss of pain.

"Sorry."

Focussing strictly on the task in hand, he was relieved to find, given his adequate if limited field medical training, that it was just bruising.

"You're fine." He said simply, sitting back against the headboard.

"Well that's something." Sam sighed, sitting up beside him. Jack shot her a sideways glance, catching the despondent tone in her voice.

"What?" He prodded.

"Nothing."

"Carter."

"It wasn't the 302." She blurted out.

"You said it was something on the surface. A magnet-electron-thingy."

"Electro-magnetic field." Sam corrected habitually. "The point is I probably can't fix it."

"We'll find the device that did it, you'll shut it off, and we'll go home." Jack said firmly.

"It could be _anywhere_. This is a very, very big planet. And even supposing we do find it, and I can turn it off, I'm not sure we should."

Jack blinked at her. "Why?"

"This thing is surrounding the entire planet. There must be a reason for it. It would be extremely reckless to just turn off something as powerful as that without knowing exactly what it does and what affect turning it off would have."

"So . . . bottom line this for me."

Sam took a deep breath. "Bottom line – the chances of us being able to leave this planet, are remote."

They sat in quiet contemplation for a moment, thinking about this.

"I still want you to try, in case you're wrong." Jack said eventually.

"Of course sir. If nothing else, it would be good to find the device just for the sake of seeing it. Assuming there is one."

Jack nodded. "We should get some sleep." He grabbed his own nightclothes and headed to the small bathroom to change. When he came out, Sam rolled over to avoid staring at his bare chest. _We have got to get out of here_, she thought desperately.

* * *

_So, things are getting tense . . . and I'd just like to apologise if Sam's potential back injury was lacking in medical jargon. I know absolutely _nothing_ about medical stuff, nor do I know anyone who does, so . . . anyway, I hope it didn't matter too much._ _As always pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze review. It would make me very very happy._

_Beka ;-)_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Lost - part 6**_

_Hey, here's chapter 6. I'm having a bit of a writer's block at the moment as far as this story is concerned, so it may be a while before the next chappie. Sorry! I'm sure I'll get it back soon!  
_

* * *

Sam winced as her bruised back protested. She was leaning into the cockpit of the X-302, fiddling with the instruments in it. Nothing was working. She could barely get a spark of power from it. She sat on the wing of the comatose spacecraft and kicked her legs.

"Given up?" Jack's voice broke the soft silence of the clearing. He walked out of the trees, smiling slightly at the sight of Sam kicking her legs like a kid.

"Just taking a break." Sam replied. "What did you find out?"

"They haven't a clue. I tried everything. These people don't have so much as a sacred tree, let alone a glowing alter or an ancient temple of mystical powers. It would be Daniel's worst nightmare. Not even some nice ruins to poke around in."

Sam's face fell, both at the mention of her dead friend, and the fact that there seemed to be no way out of their situation.

"What about Dumbo here?" Jack asked, gesturing at the 302 Sam was sitting on.

"Completely dead in the water. We still have a good supply of naquadria, but the generator might as well be a lunchbox for all the use it is."

Jack climbed up to sit on the wing beside his 2IC.

"So, we're stranded."

"I haven't given up on the 302 yet. There's a chance I might be able to figure out which aspect of the generator is being affected, and work around it."

"Oh. You haven't mentioned that before."

"It's a new idea." She looked at Jack's suddenly hopeful expression. "It's still a long shot, sir, I wouldn't hold your breath."

Jack looked at Sam's weary and battered face. "How's the burn?" He asked.

"Fine, whatever they put on it seems to be doing the trick. You?"

"Same. Let's go get some dinner."

* * *

Sam's position among the men at mealtimes was still causing considerable controversy a week after their arrival. Tomah was the ring-leader. He channelled his initial mistrust of the Tau'ri pilots into something the villagers were concerned with – the woman who wore her hair like a man, went away to work during the day and didn't cook with the others. Jack's help with the hunting parties did little to subdue the mood.

Seven days after their arrival, Karelle, Kollen's wife, drew Sam aside.

"Samantha, it has been suggested that as you haven't succeeded in repairing your space-craft, we should integrate you more into our society." Karelle started in her soft, gentle voice.

"Suggested by whom?" Sam asked, trying very hard not to sound hostile.

"Many people. My husband asked me to speak with you. I suspect Tomah was behind that."

Sam sighed. "I just need more time."

Karelle cocked her head. "More time for what?"

"To fix the ship. Just because it hasn't worked yet it doesn't mean it won't. I'm still trying to work out which bit of the engine is causing the power failure." She reasoned.

"Samantha, our society doesn't understand a woman who won't cook and knows so much about machines. You should know there is a lot of hostility towards you for this reason."

"I know. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to cause trouble, I just want to fix the ship so we can go home."

Karelle nodded. "I understand your difficulty. I have to say – though you mustn't tell my husband I said this – it makes a refreshing change to meet a woman with such a spirit." Her eyes twinkled with a hint of mischief.

Sam smiled, surprised and a little delighted by the comment. "Thank you Karelle."

"So I can tell Kollen that, if you are eventually unsuccessful, the matter will be resolved?"

Sam almost said yes, but then stopped. By saying yes, she would be agreeing to a life of servitude to the men, allowed only to cook, clean and raise children. She shuddered at the thought.

"Samantha?"

"I'm sorry Karelle, my mind is so caught up in the X-302 that I really can't think about a future where I fail." She said, hoping Karelle would not press the issue.

Karelle nodded, recognising the avoidance tactic for what it was, but not calling her on it. She gave the younger woman a small, knowing smile, and left it at that.

To his credit, Jack was trying to defend his team mate. He had quickly made himself useful in the village, going away on hunts for the local wildebeest-type-thing with various groups of men, and earning their trust and respect with his considerable skill.

Once they had stopped treating him like an outsider, he brought up the subject of Sam. Predictably, they quickly clammed up, not wanting to annoy their new comrade, particularly one with such deadly fighting skills. Never had Jack felt more like Daniel than when he was walking through the woods with the hunters, trying to explain how Tau'ri culture treated women, and how their's came to be different. He smirked at the thought of what Daniel's expression would be if he could see Jack now. The hunters were unconvinced by Jack's less than eloquent argument, but hey, at least he'd tried.

* * *

_Again, sorry if it's a little longer before the next chapter, but please please please review! Plot suggestions welcome . . . _

_Beka_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Lost - part 7**_

_Hey, here's the next chapter! Sorry it took so long to update, but as I mentioned before, I got a little stuck in the mud. Thank you so much to all the people who reviewed, and made plot suggestions! They really helped, thank you!_

_I'm still open to ideas, if anyone has any, though! It's not too late!_

_Okay, I'm done rambling, enjoy the chapter, and please keep those reviews coming!_

* * *

Sam persevered with the X-302 for over a month, everyday getting up and going out to the clearing in the woods where the 302 lay paralysed. She had been less than optimistic about the chances of success from the start, but she just couldn't give up. It would be a failure she didn't think she could live with. It wouldn't just be failing her, but the Colonel, and the SGC. Earth needed them back, and she couldn't get it done. That just wasn't acceptable.

She knew her black mood was getting to Jack. She could see it in the way he could never hold eye contact, squinting and looking away with that subtle scowl. More and more these days, he seemed a hair's breadth away from saying something, maybe yelling at her, but always stopping himself. One day soon she was sure he'd just burst out with it, and break this growing tension. She just didn't understand how he could be so willing to give up, and accept that they were stuck here.

Inevitably, it happened, one night as they were going to bed. Sam was in her nightdress, sitting up in bed and staring out the window. Well glaring, really. Jack came out of the bathroom, immediately detecting her foul state of mind.

"What is it, Carter?" He asked wearily. He figured the sooner they sorted it out, the sooner they'd both get some sleep.

"I can't fix it. I don't know what's wrong with it." It was obvious what she was talking about.

"Well stomping around like someone broke your favourite toy isn't going to help." Jack retorted.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean, _sir_?" Sam shot back, her eyes flashing angrily.

"That you've been in a stinker of a mood for weeks, and it's getting really childish. So you can't fix it. Accept it and move on."

"I can't, and I don't understand why you can."

"Because there's nothing we can do about it!" Jack said, his voice raising. "And you're certainly not going to be able to fix it by glaring at it for hours on end!"

"You think that's all I do? Sit and sulk at it?"

"I don't see what else you could possibly be doing. You must have exhausted all the options ages ago. If it was going to work, you'd have done it by now."

Sam stood up, not sure herself what she was going to do as she fumed at him. The silence seemed to last an eternity, neither willing to back down. Then Sam moved, picking a heavy cloak off the floor and wrapping it round her as she ran out the door.

"Carter!" Jack yelled after her. He ran after her after a moment, but stopped, cursing as the bitter cold hit his bare chest. He quickly got dressed again, muttering furiously under his breath. He was so frustrated with her. _Why_ couldn't she just let it go?

He eventually found her where he knew he would, at the crash site. She was sitting, curled up, staring up at the monster of a bird, which just sat in mocking silence. He watched her for a moment, and was shocked to see her shoulders shaking. She _couldn't _be crying, could she? She never cried. How many times had she told him that Carter's don't cry?

"Carter?" He called out uncertainly from behind her in the darkness. He saw her stiffen, as she realised with mortification that she'd been caught.

Cautiously, Jack walked towards her. "Are you crying?" He asked as he drew level with her.

Sam said nothing, but shook her head stubbornly.

"Bull." Jack said, clambering awkwardly down to the ground to sit next to her. "You know this is hell on my knees, don't you?" He said lightly, trying to make her feel more comfortable.

"Sorry sir." She said with a sniff.

"_Samantha_. We've been here for over four weeks, and it looks as though we'll be here a hell of a lot longer. Drop the sir."

Again she said nothing, turning her head away. Jack had a horrible feeling he'd only made her cry again. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sam." He prodded. "Talk to me."

Sam took in a shuddering breath, trying to pull herself together.

"I can't just let it go." She said quietly. "I need to get us home. We're needed there."

"They'll survive without us." Jack reasoned. "I miss home too, but would it really be so bad to get stuck here? The people are nice, mostly, and the weather's not so bad. And hey, I'd far rather be stranded here with you than with Jonas."

Sam gave him a half smile at his attempt to make light of the situation. "I miss them. Cassie and Teal'c, and Janet and Jonas. And Daniel."

Jack sighed. "I know. I do too. Particularly Cassie. But she's a tough kid, she'll get over it, and so will we."

She nodded, still staring at the 302. Jack stretched an arm out. "C'mere." He said to her quietly. She smiled wanly at him, and let herself lean against him, her head on his shoulder. He was right. If they were going to be spending the rest of their lives here, the company was pretty good. Sitting here, being held by the man she loved, suddenly her failure didn't feel so heavy on her shoulders. Maybe she could make her peace with it. Eventually.

"Come on, let's go back to bed before you freeze." Jack said eventually, rubbing her arm encouragingly. Sam stood up, wrapping the cloak tighter around herself to protect her body from the bitter wind. Jack grinned up at her from where he was still seated on the hard earth.

"Give your frail old CO a hand?" He said, putting on a pathetic voice. Sam laughed at him, taking his hands and pulling him up.

"Jack O'Neill, you are _anything_ but old and frail." She said laughingly. He put an arm around her again, and they walked home in companionable silence.

* * *

_I guess many of you will have been expecting a bit more shippyness to pop up in this scenario, like at the end when they go back to bed. Sorry! But don't give up hope! It is coming soon! Honest!_

_Beka (the one who is eternally grateful to reviewers) ;-)_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Lost - part 8**_

_Sorry about the delay - all thoughts of fanfic stopped when my mother went into hospital last week, but she's okay now, thank God, so I'm back with the next chapter and profuse apologies for making you wait so long!_

_Hope you like it! Please review!  
_

* * *

Exactly five weeks after their arrival in Amdra, Sam stopped working on the X-302. Jack was right, she'd exhausted all the options – there was simply nothing else left to try. It pained her to let the problem defeat her, but until she was hit by a new wave of inspiration, there was just no point in returning each and every day to make no progress whatsoever. 

This, of course, led to the problem of what to do instead. She decided to approach Karelle, who had seemed the most sympathetic to her position in the past.

After breakfast that morning, she waited outside the kitchens for Karelle to come out. When she did, the old woman looked quite surprised to see Sam.

"Major Carter, what can I help you with?"

"I need to talk to you. In private." Sam said quietly. Karelle frowned, and looked around. "I must help with the washing, so it must be brief."

"Of course, it won't take long." Sam assured her.

"Alright. This way." Karelle led her into a nearby hut, and shut the door. Inside were a table and chairs, at which Karelle sat, gesturing that Sam do likewise.

"What is it, Samantha?"

"I can't fix our ship. I'm afraid that the problem lies with the device that must be somewhere on this planet, which we can't find."

"So you are stranded here?"

"It looks that way. Yes."

Karelle nodded thoughtfully. She knew what this meant. Samantha would have to be integrated with their society, and the young woman had made it no secret that she was unhappy with such a position.

"Have you informed my husband?" Karelle asked eventually. Sam shook her head.

"You know that he will wish you to begin working with us in the kitchens, and help with the cleaning and washing?" She continued.

"Yeah, I figured as much."

"But you do not wish to do so."

"No. I feel that I could be more use elsewhere."

"Doing the work of men?"

"Yes." Sam said firmly. Karelle laughed.

"Oh Samantha. You are by far the most audacious woman I have ever had the pleasure to know." She said fondly.

"Thank you." Sam said with an amused little smile. "Does this mean you'll talk to Kollen for me?"

Karelle expression grew serious. "I'm afraid it may not do any good. If it were just Kollen, he may have granted your request, but there is no way Tomah and Nassem would allow it."

Sam sighed. She'd had a feeling that would be the case. "So what can I do to convince them?" She asked.

Karelle regarded her carefully for a long moment, considering how to phrase her answer. "Prove your worth as more than a housewife."

Sam frowned. "How? If I'm not allowed to work with the machinery, or hunt, then how can I prove to them that I can do it?"

"You are good with machines, yes?"

"Yes."

"You have designed machines before, to improve quality of life?" Karelle continued, a small gleam in her eyes.

"I guess you could say . . . Karelle, are you suggesting I design something to help round here, and offer it up to the Council?"

Karelle smiled, looking at Sam like a teacher who was proud of their student. "I would never suggest such a thing." She said with a grin. She stood and walked to the door. Just before she left, she turned and whispered to Sam.

"Good luck."

* * *

_Again, hope you liked it! Also, I'm apologising in advance for the longer gap between this chapter and the next, as I'm on holiday this week with no access to a computer. Sorry! _

_Please review! It would be lovely to come back from holiday to a nice fat inbox full of 'em!_

_Beka ;-) _


	9. Chapter 9

_**Lost - part 9**_

_Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who reviewed over the last week! I'm so so grateful for the support!_

_Anyway, here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it. Please keep on reviewing! You know how I love it!  
_

* * *

That night, Sam dropped down into the bed beside Jack, utterly exhausted. 

He smiled at her sympathetically. "How was your first day?"

"Mind-numbingly boring. How women on Earth can be content to just be housewives and cook and clean all day I will never know."

"They have kids." Jack said.

Sam looked at him strangely. "Well, thankfully I have another distraction."

"Oh?"

Sam told him what Karelle had suggested – or not suggested – that morning.

"Well I never. I always suspected there was more to that woman than meets the eye. She's got that cunning gleam in her eyes."

Sam lay back and pulled the covers over herself, turning on her side to face Jack in the darkness.

"Do you think it could work?"

"I guess that depends what you can offer them. Any ideas?"

"Lots. It would be fairly simple to build a small power generator, and then we could have electric lights, heating, ovens, or even a radio system if I took some parts from the 302. Non-essential ones." She hastily added as Jack looked alarmed.

"The radio sounds good. Especially considering what happened last week." Six days previously, a child had become lost, after wandering too far into the woods and being chased by a wildebeest. The hunters had searched for hours, out of contact with Amdra, while the Council debated whether to send in more help or a runner to find out what was going on.

"I'll start working on the designs tomorrow evening. I talked to Karelle this evening and she said the women's evening sewing meet was optional, thank God."

Jack laughed at her. "How long d'you think you can survive kitchen duty without running for your P-90?" He teased her.

"Judging by tonight's attempt, less than a week." She answered semi-seriously. "I got so frustrated with being told I was doing it all wrong that I yelled a bit and came so, so close to just walking out and screwing the consequences."

Jack chuckled again. "That's my Carter." He said quietly.

They lay there in silence for a little while, looking at each other thoughtfully.

"Sir?" Sam spoke eventually.

Jack slapped her wrist. "I thought we agreed it was Jack?"

"Fine. _Jack_."

"Yes, Samantha."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Okay, if we're gonna be stuck here for the rest of our lives, you're _not_ calling me _Samantha._"

"Sam."

"Better."

"So what's on your mind?"

Sam hesitated before speaking. "You know everyone here thinks we're married?"

"Kollen doesn't."

"Jack."

"Sorry. You were saying?"

Sam gave him a strange, unreadable look again. "Never mind."

"Sure?"

"Yeah, it doesn't matter."

"Okay." Jack watched her picking at a loose thread in the bed covers. There was a shaft of moonlight creeping through the shutters on the window, and it fell across her head, making her hair shimmer silver and her skin look a smooth milky white. She looked breath-takingly beautiful.

He closed his eyes with a barely restrained sigh. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up, being so close to her and yet maintaining a professional distance. And why should he? They were settling in here for the long haul, maybe the rest of their lives. They'd been here five weeks already. How long should he wait before raising two fingers to the Air Force regs and just letting the inevitable happen?

Sam prodded his arm gently. "What are you thinking about?"

He smiled slightly at her. "Nothing."

"Sure?"

"Yeah, it doesn't matter." He said, echoing her earlier words, doing most of the talking with his eyes. They'd got that down pat, the silent unspoken communication thing.

Sam smiled at him, realising that they were on the same page, both wondering how long they should hold up the regs, given their situation.

Jack stretched an arm over her head. "C'mere." He said.

She only hesitated for a few seconds before shuffling closer to him, letting his arm settle around her as she rested her head on his chest. She bit back a contented sigh. She never got such a strong sense of belonging anywhere as she did in Jack's arms. However wrong her head told her that was.

Jack rested a cheek against her soft hair, inhaling her distinctive comforting scent, and fell asleep.

* * *

Jack woke up in the morning slowly. He felt confused. There was something tickling his nose. He swatted at it, but it just groaned and tickled him more. 

The rest of his body began to wake up, and his arm told him that it was wrapped round a body. A very female body. Other parts of his body responded accordingly, causing the very female body to giggle.

He opened his eyes, and realised that the thing tickling him was hair. Blonde hair. And the female body, was in fact, Major Samantha Carter. Bloody hell.

He lifted his head, taking an experimental peek at the face of said Major. She seemed to only just be waking up herself, as her eyes were closed, and she was muttering about . . . whatever it was genius astrophysicists muttered about in their sleep, as she pulled his arm tighter around her. He watched as her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked blearily at him.

"Sir –"

"Ah! What did we say about that nasty word?" Jack cut her off.

"Nasty word?" She looked sleepy and bemused.

"What's my name?" He said, grinning at her.

"Jack." She said, closing her eyes again with a smile.

"Much better." He had to work very, very hard not to kiss her. She just looked so damn . . . kissable.

She opened her eyes again, and this time seemed to register her surroundings. "This is different." She commented frowning.

"Uh . . . yeah. I guess." He said, not sure how she was going to react. Yes, she'd lightened up considerably since Captain Doctor Samantha Carter had first walked into the briefing room six and a half years previously, but that didn't mean she wouldn't still have a few . . . problems, with waking up with her CO draped over her. Even if they were here for the long haul.

To his surprise, she giggled again. Maybe she was still half asleep. He prodded her stomach with the arm that was still wrapped around her. "Hey, what happened to 'no giggling'?"

"That was over five years ago." She protested.

Huh. Maybe she _was_ awake.

"Still, doesn't do much for a guy's ego." He said lightly. They were good at that. Keep the tone light, avoid any deep and meaningful conversations.

Sam raised her eyebrows, stroking the arm around her absently with her thumb. "I wasn't aware your ego needed any bolstering, sir."

"Yes, well . . . not anymore." Jack said, waggling his eyebrows at her. She laughed at him and hit him with a pillow.

"Hey! That's assault of a superior officer! I could have you up on charges, Major!" He said jokingly, reluctantly withdrawing his arm from its snug position around her midriff.

The tone suddenly turned more serious, as she looked at him thoughtfully.

"What?" He prompted.

"What if we're rescued?" She asked.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "What if we're _rescued_? I thought we established that was impossible."

"Improbable. But what if the Asgard get involved? They could turn up at any minute to take us home. What then?"

Jack looked at her for a long moment. "I see your point. But it's not like . . . you know."

"Like we've done anything incriminating."

"Exactly."

"Yet."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Is that a promise?"

She hit him with a pillow again. "I'm serious."

"It would be easier to take you seriously if you stopped hitting me with a pillow." Jack said, grinning.

Sam let out a groan of frustration and got up, going to the bathroom to get dressed.

Jack looked at the shut door with a little trepidation. However lightly he was treating the situation, he knew she was right. It hadn't occurred to him that the Asgard could swoop in and end their exile. They hadn't crossed the line, but then again, Sam was right. They hadn't crossed it _yet._ It was only a matter of time. How long could they wait before Hammond would deem it long enough to disregard the regs?

He sighed and grabbed his own clothes, beginning to dress, knowing it would take him half the time that Sam would take in the bathroom with her tight heavy dress.

The thing that was really going to make this hard, was just how easily they seemed to have slipped into a husband/wife role. He couldn't pin point the moment it had happened, but they weren't just treating each other as CO and 2IC anymore. Their relationship had shifted, and suddenly the easy banter they used to touch on occasionally was commonplace. Things like waking with her in his arms felt so right. If they really were going to try and wait for as long as possible, then they had to re-establish the distance between them.

The trouble was, Jack didn't want to. And neither did Sam.

* * *

_Ta da! The shippyness will out! I hope you liked it, and please please please review. Go on, you know you want to . . . !_

_Beka :-)_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Lost - part 10**_

_Thank you for your patience and wonderful wonderful reviews! It really is so encouraging to know so many people like my stories! Thank you!_

_Hope you like this, and please please keep on reviewing!  
_

* * *

It took Sam one week to finish the plans for a radio system. And, truth be told, she was more proud of the restraint she'd shown towards Jack and the women of Amdra than of her designs. Everyday, and particularly every night, it got harder not to break the frat regs with Jack. And everyday it took just that little bit more self-restraint to keep her from banging her head against a wall, or shooting someone, in the kitchens and laundry rooms. 

So, it was with a great deal of relief that she was able to approach Kollen, and request an audience with the Council. Kollen was hesitant, but agreed to the meeting. He fervently hoped the Tau'ri woman was not out to cause trouble.

At the appointed hour, Sam knocked on the door of the Council chamber.

"Enter." A voice called from within.

Sam pushed open the door, and entered, slowly and respectfully. She had rehearsed this meeting for hours with Jack the night before, anxious that they wouldn't refuse her on the grounds of her offending their customs in any way. Other than being there to request culturally obtuse duties, of course.

"Councillors, thank you very much for seeing me." She said, keeping her gaze lowered.

"Take a seat, Samantha Carter." Nassem instructed. Most of the Amdrans had done away with Sam and Jack's ranks when addressing the pair now, as they were not relevant to Amdran society.

Sam sat, holding her designs in her lap.

"On what matter do you wish to address the council?" Tomah asked frostily. He still did not trust the newcomers. It was doubtful he ever would.

"Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude for the hospitality your people have extended myself and Colonel O'Neill since our arrival. You have been very kind to us." Sam started. "I was hoping, therefore, that I could offer you something in return, by way of thanks for your kindness."

She and Jack had decided on this strategy, thinking that an offer of technology was going to go down better than an outright request for 'reassignment', as it were.

"What is it you wish to offer?" Kollen asked, intrigued.

"You have seen the radios Colonel O'Neill and I have, that allow us to communicate with each other over great distances?" The council nodded. "I believe I can build more of them, for you and others in the village to use."

The council's reactions were varied. Kollen looked curious, excited even. Tomah looked extremely sceptical and impatient. Nassem, on the other hand, had clearly perfected his poker face. His expression showed nothing.

"How?" Tomah demanded.

Sam took that as her opening, and placed her designs on the table. She laid them out, and took the three old men through the construction process slowly, aware that this technology was alien to them.

By the end of her explanation, the council's expressions had remained largely the same as they'd been to begin with. Kollen enthusiastic and excited, Tomah unshakeably negative, and Nassem as unreadable as Teal'c.

"You cannot expect us to commit valuable resources to this project, on the word of a woman. An _alien_ woman, no less." Tomah said. Sam bristled, but forced herself to stay silent.

"Tomah, think of the benefits of having such a system in place! Being able to communicate, instantly, with the hunting parties, and the tree fellers. Even the other villages!" Kollen argued enthusiastically.

"If it works! Let us face facts, Kollen. We cannot hope to understand this technology, so we would be placing an extraordinary amount of faith in the expertise of Samantha Carter. And how would the villagers react to a woman being granted such authority? It is not natural, and they will not stand for it."

"You mean you will antagonise them until they agree with you. Tomah, we cannot ignore such a precious gift on the grounds of cultural differences. To do so would be stupidity."

Nassem, who had yet to pass judgement, gazed at Sam intently. She sensed he was trying to weigh up her worth, and sat up straighter, meeting his gaze. She knew that this man would be the tie-breaker.

"How many men will you need?" Nassem asked. Sam explained to him how much manpower would be needed at each of the stages of work. He then asked direct, detailed questions about the resources required, and the time it would take.

A full ninety minutes after the meeting had begun, Kollen brought the matter to a vote. Tomah immediately, and predictably, voted against. Kollen voted for it. Nassem paused, taking his time to decide.

Eventually, he gave his answer. "I believe it would be a worthwhile endeavour. But –" he added, "– I believe that Tomah's cultural concerns are not without grounds. Samantha will not be in charge of the project. She will act in an advisory capacity. Johann will oversee the work, and report directly to the council. Samantha, you will be under his command. Is that understood?"

Sam felt a mixture of excitement that her project was being approved, and irritation that she would have to answer to a man who likely as not wouldn't understand what they were doing.

"Yes, councillor. Thank you, sir, for accepting my offer."

Nassem gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Do not make me regret it."

* * *

_What did you think? And don't worry, the shippyness will return . . . ! _

_Beka_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Lost - part 11**_

_Here it is! Sorry about the delay, the website didn't want to upload this chapter yesterday. How dare it._

_Warning - SJ ship ahead . . .  
_

* * *

  
The rest of the day was given over to more briefings on the project, as she brought Johann, a large man in his early forties, up to speed, along with his few subordinates. It was time for the evening meal before they were finished, and Sam almost skipped as she hurried to the table where she and Jack now ate.

"They approved it!" She said excitedly, before she had even sat down. Jack gave her a genuine smile.

"That's great! When do you start?"

"Immediately. Or at least as soon as Johann feels he's got a basic understanding of what we're doing." She told Jack about the meeting, and Nassem's strict description of the chain of command.

"Well, it makes sense. It's not like we'd trust an alien scientist to run wild in the SGC, is it?" Jack reasoned.

Sam was stumped by that. "Yeah, you're right. I didn't think of it like that."

Jack smirked. "Eat your meat. Something tells me you're going to be missing a few meals in the near future."

Sam gave him a guilty grin. She couldn't deny that her enthusiasm for a good old science project often overrode her basic needs. Like food and sleep. Likely as not it would be Jack pulling her away for rest, or bringing her food when she failed to appear for dinner at sunset.

* * *

That night, when Jack and Sam went to bed, Jack risked crossing the line once more, lifting an arm to invite Sam closer. Exactly as she had a week ago, Sam willingly went into his arms and this time didn't hold back the happy sigh that escaped her as she rested her head above his heart. Jack grinned to himself when he heard that. God, he loved this woman.

"Jack?" Sam whispered.

"Yeah?" He whispered back, stroking her arm absently.

"Thanks for being so . . . supportive."

"Always." He placed a small kiss on the top of her head. Risky, but maybe she hadn't felt it through her hair.

"I mean it. I know it drives you nuts when I techno-babble, and Lord knows I've done a lot of that recently."

"I don't mind it really. I used to cut you off just to annoy you. And to maintain my stupid image."

Sam chuckled into his chest. "Like any of us ever bought _that_."

Jack hugged her closer. "Yeah, well. I couldn't make fun of you and Daniel . . . and Jonas, for being eggheads if I let it get out that I understood _more_ than one percent of what you talk about."

Sam raised her head, looking at him with raised eyebrows and an accusatory smile. "_Eggheads_?"

Jack raised his hands in mock defence, before resting them on her back again. "It's a compliment. Sort of. I'm saying you're very very smart."

"Nice save."

"I thought so."

They just looked at each other for a moment, suddenly very aware of how close they were. Their faces were really only inches apart. The atmosphere had lost its jovial tone, and turned more serious.

Jack wasn't sure who'd moved first, but suddenly they were even closer, and his eyes drifted down to her lips, breathless with anticipation. He closed the last inch of distance between them, gently but firmly capturing her lips with his own with a wonderful, tantalising kiss.

He felt the world stop spinning around him, lost in this one moment. It was a cliché, but if he'd died right then, he'd have died happy.

Eventually, cautiously, he pulled back. What he saw when he opened his eyes was a sight he prayed he'd never get tired of. Sam Carter, with her eyes closed, flushed and hardly breathing with a growing smile lighting up her face. It was even better when she opened her eyes, and he saw in those deep blue orbs everything they'd held in and bottled up for the last half decade. All the powerful feeling and attraction. All the love.

"Carter, breathe." He prodded her gently, grinning. Laughing, she obediently took in a gulp of air.

"I didn't think the saying about a kiss taking your breath away was literal till now." She joked, reaching a hand up to stroke through his hair.

"Yeah well, what can I say, I'm talented!" Jack teased, pulling her close for another long, lingering kiss.

A blissful few minutes later, Sam gently pulled away, and looked at him carefully. "You know we're playing with fire here." She commented frankly.

Jack sighed. "Yeah."

"The Asgard could still drop in at any moment."

"It's been six weeks. How long do we wait?"

"I think Hammond would expect us to hold it together for longer than six weeks." Sam pointed out.

Jack scowled at her. "You're killing the mood, here."

"I know. And I hate to be the one to say it, but you know I've got a point, don't you?"

Jack let her go, and sat up. "Yes. I know."

Sam sat up too, looking at him worriedly. "It's not that I don't want it, it's just –"

"I know, Carter." Jack cut her off, a little more harshly than he'd intended. "We should get some sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow."

He gave her a barely-there smile that didn't reach his eyes before lying down again, facing away from her. Sam felt like he'd slapped her. His cold tone had cut through her worse than if he had. She fought back the urge to cry and lay down too, staring at his back with an aching heart.

It was hours before either of them slept.

* * *

_So, what did you think? Well you didn't think I was gonna make it easy for them did ya?_

_Beka ;-)_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Lost - part 12**_

_Hey, here's chapter 12! Enjoy!  
_

* * *

  
The next morning, the air was decidedly frosty between the two air force officers. Jack even reverted to calling his 2IC 'Carter'. That made it perfectly clear to Sam where she stood. Intentionally or not, she'd pushed him away, and now his indifference was like a knife twisting in her gut. Jack remained unreadable and mostly silent, barely saying a word to her in the house and at breakfast, escaping from the morning meal earlier than usual.

It wasn't that he didn't care. He cared. He cared a hell of a lot. But if there was one thing you could count on in an O'Neill, it was unwavering stubbornness. As far as he was concerned, Sam had put the brakes on their relationship, and all he was doing was respecting the barriers they'd had in place before.

It was in an extremely subdued mood, therefore, that Sam met Johann again that day for more planning of her radio system. If he noticed her preoccupations, however, he didn't call her on it. He was a staunch believer in the status quo, and so wasn't in the practice of socialising with a 'married' woman. As a result, Sam's day was even more exhausting than if she'd only had educating the ageing chauvinist to worry about, as she felt sick with worrying about Jack.

Jack's day wasn't much better. His foul mood quickly rubbed off on the other hunters, breaking up the usually slick communication between them that had made them such an efficient team. Their catch was only two-thirds of what it usually was, and by the end of the day, they were all extremely irritable, towards Jack in particular, though none were brave enough to confront him.

Unfortunately, due to Jack's obviously rotten mood, Sam didn't dare try and talk to him about the situation that night, meaning the following day was much the same. And the one after that. It was beginning to have an extremely detrimental effect on the hunt, and after three days of reduced meat at the sunset meal, Nassem put his foot down.

After interrogating several of the hunters, it became apparent that the problem was Jack. It also became apparent that none of the hunters were willing to tackle the newcomer themselves, and that made Nassem equally reluctant to do so, volatile as the man's temperament seemed to be.

Instead, he summoned Sam to his house, hoping to get to the bottom of it through someone more experienced with the handling of Jack's emotions.

And that was how Sam found herself stood before the youngest council member, who lounged on his bed with his almost annoying air of unending authority.

"Councillor Nassem, how may I be of assistance?" Sam asked.

Nassem took a moment to relish in the fact that an attractive woman was in his bed chamber, before speaking. "Your husband is compromising the work of the hunters. Their catch is severely depleted as a result of his poor attitude. I wish to know why this is so, and I wish for you to solve it."

Sam felt her stomach drop a good few miles. "I wish I could, Councillor, but –"

"It was not a request." Nassem cut her off. "Solve the problem, or I will be forced to remove him from the hunters. Perhaps fruit-picking would be more to his taste?" He added, completely dead-pan. Somehow it was even worse that Tomah's sneers.

"I'll do my best." Sam said curtly, leaving without waiting for a dismissal.

She swore repeatedly under her breath when she got outside. _What the hell do I do now? _She thought furiously. Her heart was beating so hard and fast it might have been about to burst right through her chest, and she had to force herself to slow her pace, and try and calm down.

_What the hell do I do now?_

She had to confront him. He had been completely ignoring each and every attempt on her part to subtly make a peace offering, or let him know she was sorry.

_Sorry for what? I just pointed out what we both knew was true!_

She squashed that little voice in her head impatiently. Like it or not, it would be a cold day before Jack O'Neill made the first move. This was down to her. And she was petrified.

* * *

At evening meal, Sam sat down opposite Jack in silence as she had the previous three evenings.

"Carter." He greeted her, giving her a nod over his plate of bread. It was the rule that if a hunt was depleted, the hunters were last in line for meat.

Sam, having been deliberately late for the meal, didn't have any meat either. She thought she might have better luck getting her point across if there was a noticeable lack of the stuff on their table.

"Jack." She responded, watching him eat. Sooner or later he was going to notice that she wasn't touching her food, and the insufferable nanny personality he had with regards to her would not permit him to ignore it. Hopefully.

The minutes ticked by.

"Eat your food." Bingo. Jack had barely looked up from his own food, but it was what Sam was after.

"I would, but you know me. I can never eat when something big's going on."

Jack frowned at her. "Okay, you got me. What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're in trouble." She informed him.

"Oh I am, am I?"

"Yes." Sam sat still, not shying away from his irritated stare. She couldn't afford to back down.

"You not going to elaborate?"

"Nassem asked to see me. Privately." She watched as Jack's posture stiffened.

"Oh?"

"You need to get the hunt back on form."

"And when exactly did that become my responsibility?" He retorted.

"When the others started to respect you, and think of you as their leader. Or maybe when your bad mood started affecting their performance."

Jack just stared at her. "Excuse me?"

"Look, I think you know that I really _really _didn't want to have this conversation, but Nassem practically ordered me to, and while normally I wouldn't give a rat's ass about following one of a chauvinist's more convoluted orders, he also threatened you." Sam told him honestly.

"He threatened me? _Nassem_ threatened me? Why the hell are you taking threats from that shrub seriously? He hasn't got a backbone!"

"That's where you're wrong. He may not be as outspoken and opinionated as Tomah, but he can be ruthless when he wants something done."

Jack looked at her, scrutinizing her carefully. However pissed he may be at the current state of his relationship with blonde 'pretend wife', he did trust her judgement.

"What did he say?"

"That he'd have you reassigned to fruit-picking if the hunt didn't recover. Soon."

Jack scowled as he ate the last of his bread. "Slimy little rat." He muttered, standing up and stalking away in the direction of their hut.

Sam sighed. Something told her the problem wasn't sorted yet. While Jack could probably up the hunt's performance now he knew what was at stake, he didn't react well to being threatened, and that was only likely to add to his bad mood. And the root of his bad mood, was still painfully unresolved.

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Please review, you know how I love it . . . ;-)_

_Beka_

_(P.S. I am currently on cloud nine and have been skipping around like a mad-woman for hours, cos I passed my exams and I'm going to uni! Aaaaaaaaaaa! Sorry, I'm telling everyone and I had to get it out of my system. :-D_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Lost - part 13**_

_Okay, brace yourselves, I'm going to Scotland for ten days so this is all you're getting for a little while! Also, I've hit another brick wall in the story - where do I go from here? Any suggestions would be extremely welcome._

* * *

Sam entered the hut an hour after the end of the evening meal. Jack's canteen was on the bed, showing he had been back since he'd stormed away from the eating area, but now he was nowhere to be seen. Still, that didn't surprise Sam. He wasn't the type to just sit and brood indoors when he was angry.

Which left her with a dilemma. Should she go looking for him, or wait for him to come home? On the one hand, it would probably be sensible to wait until he'd calmed down enough to come back and go to bed. But on the other, the prospect of dealing with their particular problem in the extremely confined space the little wooden house offered was not pleasant.

In the end, the decision was taken out of her hands. Jack came home.

He barely glanced at her as he shut the door behind him and hung up his coat. Until the feeling of her eyes boring into his back became a little too much to bear in silence.

"What, Carter?"

Sam sighed and closed her eyes. "We need to talk."

Jack scowled again and started picking at his shoe-laces. "I'm not in the mood."

Sam stood up angrily. "Damnit, Jack, you're never gonna be in the mood for this conversation! But we still need to talk, and we need to do it now!"

"Or what?" Jack whirled around to face her.

"Or Nassem and Tomah will make your life hell, and I _won't _just stand by and let that happen!" She yelled back.

They stood staring at each other, both fuming. Sam stood her ground. She wasn't willing to back down this time.

"Fine. Talk." Jack said, sitting down on the bed.

Sam took a deep breath and sat cross-legged opposite him on the end of the bed. "I'm sorry about the other night. When you kissed me. I didn't mean to . . ." she broke off. She hadn't a clue in hell how to phrase what she was trying to say.

"Throw some pretty cold water over it?" Jack offered.

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"So you've changed your mind?"

"It's not about me changing my mind, it's about . . . look, you _know_ how I feel about you. I wasn't trying to reject you or give you the cold shoulder."

Jack looked into her eyes. _Dammit_. He felt like an ass. She was right, he did know that she wasn't pushing him away because she didn't want him. And he knew she was right about it maybe being a little too soon to write off any possibility of rescue. After all, she herself had rescued him after his three month exile on Edora.

But it had still hurt. He'd put his heart on the line, not something he did lightly, and she'd pushed him away. However sensible or logical her intentions were, it had still hurt, and he'd been a little disappointed in her that she'd been unwilling to take the risk. He'd thought she was starting to let go of their old life. Obviously not enough to forget that he used to be her CO.

"I know you weren't." He said eventually, quietly.

Sam looked up at him in surprise. Coming from him, that was worth a thousand words. She hadn't been expecting him to be so quick in contributing to this conversation.

"And . . . do you understand what I was saying? That I wasn't saying never, just that I thought we should try and wait a little longer?" She asked carefully.

Jack winced and looked out the window. "I get what your point was, Carter. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it."

"I know. I just . . . I don't want things to be like this anymore. These last few days have been horrible, and I – " she stopped suddenly, a little blind-sided by what she'd been about to say.

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "And you _what?_"

"I missed you." Sam admitted quietly, doggedly looking anywhere but at him.

Jack almost smiled. God, he'd been acting childishly, sulking like a six-year old instead of just hearing her out and talking about it like a grown-up.

"Sam." He said softly. He waited until she looked at him. "I missed you too."

He reached out a hand to her, which she took with a sigh of relief. He gently tugged her hand to get her to sit next to him, and then he put an arm round her shoulders and whispered into her soft hair.

"I'm sorry, I've been an ass."

"Yes you have." Sam agreed, smiling at him. "Please let's agree not to do the whole silent treatment again. Clearly it doesn't work."

Jack smiled softly back, and gave her a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Please review, and as I said before, any suggestions for the story would be so so so sooooooo welcome!_ _Next chapter hopefully will be up within two weeks, depending on whether I am able to liberate my muse by the time I'm back from bonnie Scotland!  
_

_Beka_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Lost - part 14**_

_The muse is liberated! _

_I'm back from Scotland (which is a painfully beautiful country, by the way) bursting with ideas for this story, but unfortunately with limited writing time as I'm about to start a two week 9 to 5 job, and I have many many uni preparations to do. So, rest assured that the story will keep going, even if it doesn't come as regularly as before._

_In the meantime, I really hope you like this chapter, and please please please keep on reviewing!_

_Also (and I'll shut up in a minute, honest!) thank you so so so much to everyone who gave me story suggestions! They were so helpful, and a special thank you goes to Violingeeknm for the idea for this chapter. _

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

  
Sam walked slowly but steadily away from the village centre, in the direction of the X-302, which by now was robbed of a significant amount of electrics. She carried a brick-sized black box, covered in dials and buttons and switches. She pressed down a button and spoke into a grilled section.

"Walker 2 calling Amdra at 300 niks." She said clearly, using the local measurement units. She reckoned a nik was roughly equivalent to five feet. Ten seconds later she was rewarded with an answering crackle and hiss.

"Amdra confirming Walker 2 reception. Continue." Johann's voice sounded slightly muffled, so Sam turned one of the dials ever so slightly.

"Walker 1 calling Amdra at 350 niks." The voice of another man on the tech team (as they'd come to be known after a memorable night of celebration with a more-than-slightly drunk Jack O'Neill) sounded over the radio. It was clearer than before, but the background static hiss had worsened. Sam attacked another of her dials. When she returned, she would set all the radios to the same settings as her model.

"Amdra confirming Walker 1 reception. Come in Walker 3."

"Walker 3 here. I'm at 338 niks."

"Walker 3 reception confirmed. Come in Walker 2."

Sam pressed down the button again. "Walker 2 here."

"Walker 2, we've got some heavy static here from the receiver." Johann informed her. Sam rolled her eyes. She'd known this would happen, but Johann's sense of male authority had prevented her from remaining at the radio control centre to keep a handle on things, and instead he himself was there, with a limited idea of what the multiple dials and readouts meant.

"Is the static present in all transmissions, or just a particular Walker?" She asked.

"All transmissions."

"Turn the dial at the top right corner one quarter clockwise." She instructed him. There wasn't a reply immediately, but Sam just _knew_ Johann would be muttering under his breath. He loathed taking orders form her.

"How is it now?" She asked.

"Slightly improved." Johann admitted.

"Walker 3 calling Amdra at 350 niks." The third walker called in.

"Amdra confirming Walker 3 reception. All walkers continue to 500 niks before calling in again."

"Walker 2 calling Amdra, shouldn't we continue to check in at regular intervals, so that if there is a failing we know the exact distance at which the reception was lost?" Sam argued.

"Negative. Proceed as instructed Walker 2."

Sam ground her teeth in irritation, and forced herself not to argue. Johann had long since proved that challenging him would never pay off. Several times he'd demoted her to menial tasks normally carried out by one of the teenage boys who worked as apprentices, causing the project to be set back by days, once even for a full two weeks, until he'd decided she'd 'learnt her lesson'. Needless to say, there were days when Sam sorely missed her P-90.

Eventually however, after a long two months, the 'tech team' had successfully built three portable radio units, based loosely on Jack and Sam's own models, with a central control system that boosted the individual signals. The portable units were able to communicate with each other by relaying the signal through central control, or 'the bunker', as Jack lovingly referred to it, with only a four second delay. The council were thrilled with the bunker. It had the feel of a power base. Nassem in particular was thrilled with its potential.

As Sam reached 450 niks, the '302 came into sight in the distance. There were creeping plants growing up over the wings now, partially hacked away in places, from when she had returned to harvest parts from the downed craft. It was a sorry sight, that she no longer sought out if she could help it. To her, it was a reminder of her failure.

"Walker 1 calling at 500 niks."

"Amdra confirms Walker 1 reception at 500 niks. Walkers 2 and 3?"

"Walker 3 calling at . . . 500 niks." The techie said, sounding slightly out of breath but very pleased with himself.

"Amdra confirms Walker 3 reception."

Sam watched as the readout on her radio turned from 498, to 499, to 500. She'd added a feature to the radios that her's and Jack's didn't have – a calculation of the distance the signal had to carry to return to the bunker, which then told the 'walker' how far they were from home.

"Walker 2 calling Amdra at 500 niks."

"Amdra confirms Walker 2 reception. Congratulations gentlemen, we have succeeded." Johann called.

"Well done, Sam." Walker 3 said lightly. He was a more accepting soul, who'd treated Sam with a little more respect that Johann.

"Walkers, return to the bunker. Amdra out."

Sam grinned happily. 500 niks was a big achievement, considering how far they'd had to stretch what limited resources they could make, or scavenge from the '302. She hurried back to Amdra, happily anticipating telling Jack of her success.

* * *

"Hey." Jack sat down heavily beside Sam at the dinner table. "That was quite a day. I swear these damn beasts are getting faster." He said, eagerly taking the plate Sam had loaded with food for him. She watched, amused, as he downed a significant quantity of soup, and tucked into the bread and vegetables with gusto.

"Hungry?"

"Famished." He replied, before looking up into her twinkling eyes. He shook a finger at her sternly. "Hey, don't mock the aged and weary."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Sam quipped, promptly adopting her best look of innocence.

"Sure." Jack took another slurp of soup, before it hit him. "Hey! How did the test go?"

Sam beamed at him. "We got a clear signal all the way up to 500 niks, before we had to come back and charge the batteries."

"500? Wow, that's a long way." He frowned for a moment. "That _is_ a long way, right? How big is a nik?"

"500 niks is about half a mile. But it is a long way, considering we've only been working two months. The next step is getting the batteries to last longer so we can test further out."

"Cool." He finished his dinner in one last gulp. "Shall we?" He said, standing and offering her his arm. She laughed at him and hooked her arm through his fondly.

They strode through the village, towards a hill that overlooked the lake. Jack had found the spot many weeks earlier, on an evening walk, and had caught a breathtaking sunset as the sun sank beneath the horizon, seeming to melt away into the water. He'd brought Sam back the next day, and she loved it. Now they went every night, and sat together on the hill, frequently staying until long after the sun had disappeared.

They'd had a comfortable relationship for the last two months. After the frosty silence instigated at the beginning of Sam's work with Johann, Jack had been careful not to push the boundaries of their relationship too far. It was killing him not expressing his feelings, but he respected her position, and her wish that they wait. And as much as he sometimes hated not being able to hold her or kiss her, he knew it had done them some good. Over the last two months they had become closer friends than they'd ever been before, hindered as they'd been by a CO/subordinate relationship back on Earth. It felt really good, to both of them, being able to just _talk_ in these beautiful evenings by the lake, and get to know each other.

And however much it hurt to hold off, Jack knew with absolute certainty that it would be well worth the wait.

* * *

_Again, I hope you liked it, and please review! The muse may be back but it still needs feeding!_

_Beka_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Lost - part 15**_

_I'm so so sorry for the long gap - like I said before, I've got a two week job at the moment, with a 90 minute commute, and it's been so tiring that I've had trouble summoning the energy and willpower to tackle my uni stuff, let alone this! But I only have two more days of the evil job! After that I have two weeks completely free with no excuse not to do some serious catching up!_

_Hope you like it! And please please keep those wonderful reviews coming . . .  
_

* * *

"We could always just paint it I guess." Jack said, fiddling with one of the radios. 

"Uh-huh." Sam kept poking at the inside workings of the main radio console with her miniscule pair of tweezers. They were currently holed up in the bunker, late in the evening, two days after the first test.

"Put in a rug or something. Curtains! Hey, we could get hippy beads for the door!" Jack exclaimed. He was certain she hadn't taken in a word he was saying.

"Good idea." Sam said, not looking up form her work.

"Or we could just knock the whole place down and sleep with the pigs, I suppose. I hear the smells really not so bad once you get used to it."

"Uh-huh."

Jack grinned at her fondly.

"Sam."

"Mmm."

"Sam."

He broke through the fog of her intense concentration – Sam looked up.

"What?"

"Sam, what did I just say?" Jack asked slowly, in his 'talking to a little kid' voice, with an amused smile. She blinked at him blankly.

"Um . . . hippy beads?" She guessed nervously.

"Very good. I didn't think you were even half listening."

"I'm sorry." Sam put down tweezers and squeezed his knee apologetically. "Why were you talking about hippy beads exactly?"

"I wasn't really. I was suggesting we do up the house. I just mentioned the beads to get your attention."

"Do up the house? With what?" Sam said with raised eyebrows.

"I dunno, an extension or something. So we've got more room. I was thinking maybe you'd like to have space for a desk, so we can do things like this where it's more . . . you know. Comfy."

Sam felt a stab of guilt as she realised he'd been sitting on the hard floor all evening just to keep her company. "That's a really sweet thought, Jack."

"So that's a yes?"

"Sure, if you can find the time and resources for it."

"Cool." Jack grinned at her, and she grinned right back. He'd been doing that a lot lately, she'd noticed. Smiling. Grinning. Generally looking happy and content with life. It wasn't that he'd never smiled before, just that he'd never seemed quite so relaxed and at ease with himself and his life. _Maybe this is what he'd be like at his cabin in Minnesota_, she thought, with a pang of regret that she'd never get to go there now. Still, she supposed this wasn't much different.

Aside from the whole permanency issue.

Suddenly Jack's smile faltered. She was about to call him on it when he held up a hand to stop her. Years of military training kept her silent and still, as Jack stealthily got up and crept to the door. He carefully opened it a crack, then more, as he slipped out of the building.

He was certain he'd heard something. A cough, from very close by. The bunker was set in the middle of Amdra, behind the village hall, and so was very near to several buildings, but still . . . he was sure the cough had come from a person just outside. Someone eavesdropping, or spying on them.

He did a quick sweep round the building, but found no one. Unfortunately, the network of buildings surrounding the hut gave easy cover for a person to make a quick get away. If there had been someone, they'd probably bolted the minute he and Sam had stopped talking.

He slipped back inside, waving his hand to dismiss Sam's concerned gaze.

"Thought I heard something." He said.

She raised her eyebrows. "Like someone outside?"

"Yeah, but it's clear. There's no one there. And anyway, who'd want to listen in on us discussing interior decorating?" He said with a wry grin. Sam smiled, got up and packed away her equipment.

"Maybe we should call it a night, if you're starting to hear things." She teased him.

"Excellent idea, madam." Jack replied, practically dragging her away from the equipment. "We can go decide which wall to knock through."

They emerged out of the hut laughing, and quickly made their way back through the houses towards their own modest home.

* * *

Tomah watched the pair disappear into the distance stonily. That had been close. If O'Neill had discovered him . . . but he hadn't. Still, he would have to be more careful next time. 

How long? How long would he have to keep up this loitering outside their house, or the bunker, or sitting close enough to overhear at evening meal? How long before he heard what he needed – conclusive proof to take to the other Council members that these two were trouble for Amdra. Eventually, eventually he would get what he needed. They were planning an invasion, he was certain of it. The meaningless conversation tonight, about developing their home, had been a front, it must have been. O'Neill had proved that he had been alert for eavesdroppers when he came looking for him. They were not looking to make a life in Amdra. They were trouble. He _knew_ they were trouble, and he knew that they _must_ be stopped.

At _all_ costs.

* * *

_So, what did you think? Please let me know! And for all you shippers out there who have been begging me to get this pair together for ages, it will come! I promise you it will come! Good things come to those who wait ;-)_

_Beka (the evil withholder of shippyness!)  
_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Lost - part 16**_

_Okay, you might have to make this one last - I'm having extreme internet difficulties at the moment, and I'm not even sure it'll hold out long enough for me to write this intro and post. Hopefully my dad will have it fixed soon, but I'm not holding my breath. Worst case scenario, I have to wait 2 weeks until I get to uni. Sorry!_

_Enjoy the chapter! And please review - even though it may take me a while to be able to access them and reply ;-)  
_

* * *

As Sam lay on her side in bed, she watched Jack's bare chest rise and fall, trying and failing to find comfort and sleep in the constant rhythm of it. Unfortunately, it only served to make her even more miserable, as it was a stark reminder of what she was denying herself. 

She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. How had it gotten to this? Staring at her CO's chest in the middle of the night, wishing desperately that she could just give in and let herself love him?

_Who am I kidding? _She thought miserably. _I already do love him._

She couldn't sleep. It had been nearly four months. How much longer was she going to make herself wait? How much longer could she keep Jack waiting? He had said it was okay, that he would wait for as long as she felt they needed to. But was it fair? To either of them?

She opened her eyes, and let her gaze travel over his body. It would be so easy to just give in. Just to prod him awake, and say she was ready. Surely four months on an alien planet with no hope of return was a good enough excuse?

Silently, slowly, and very very cautiously, she reached a hand towards him. Her fingers just barely brushed the hairs on his chest, before he grunted in his sleep and rolled away from her. Sam let her hand drop.

_This is insane._

She got out of bed, and dressed as quietly as possible. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep in this frame of mind, so why waste time lying in bed?

She slipped out of their house, dodging the piles of timber Jack was collecting for their little house extension, and made her way towards the village centre, thinking she could at least do some work on the radios. They were currently working on plans to develop the water mill that was generating what little power the radios were using. The way Sam had explained it to Johann and the council, more power equalled more radios, longer broadcasting ranges, and longer battery life.

She made her way around the village hall, and lifted the high bolt on the door that stopped the local wildlife and children getting in. She pulled the door open . . . and promptly dropped the bolt with a barely suppressed yell of surprise.

The candle Tomah held slipped through his fingers as he leapt to his feet, and he cried out in pain as the flame lapped at his palm before it dropped all the way to the floor and died.

"You! What are you doing here?!" He snarled at Sam.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Sam shot back, entering the small hut.

"Remember your place, Carter!" Tomah snapped, pulling himself up to his full height, which was a good three inches shorter than Sam. "Answer my question."

"I came to do some more work on the radios." Sam told him angrily. Her eyes flitted round the room rapidly, trying to see what he'd been doing. "If you've sabotaged them . . ."

"How dare you make such accusations! Return to your home at once!" He commanded, face red with indignation and panic.

"No. You're going to tell me what you were doing here." Sam said, not bothering to keep the threat out of her tone.

"I will answer to no woman. You will pay for your disrespect." Tomah hissed at her.

Sam pushed past him, seething, and hurriedly checked the radios and central control system for damage.

"I told you to _leave_!" Tomah roared. Sam ignored him.

Tomah watched her as she hurried through every piece of equipment, searching for damage that he knew wasn't there. He hadn't come to sabotage them. No, that would not aid his cause at all. He had been searching for evidence.

He gave up waiting for Sam to comply with his command to leave, and with a last bellow of outrage, stormed from the building.

_Why did she come? How could she have known?_

His feet pounded through the village as a million different answers flashed through his mind. _Now I've missed my chance. If the evidence of their plans was in that building, now she will move it. Destroy it, even. How am I to prove anything to the people now?_

He flung open the door of his house, and slammed it closed behind him.

* * *

Once Sam had made sure everything was as it should be in the bunker, she ran straight back home, and shook Jack awake.

"Wha – Sam?" The ex-colonel said groggily.

"Jack, wake up." Sam said to him again, letting him go and sitting on the bed beside him, waiting for his brain to catch up with his body.

It didn't take long.

"Sam, it's the middle of the night. What's wrong?" He asked her as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"I couldn't sleep, so I went to the bunker to do some work. I found Tomah in there." She got up and started pacing, still full of pent up anger about the encounter.

"Tomah? What was he doing in there?" Jack asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I don't know. He was obviously hiding something though."

"You think he was trying to sabotage the project?"

"I don't . . . I don't _know_. I checked _everything_. It was all working fine."

"So . . ." Jack gestured aimlessly, "what was he doing in there?"

Sam turned to face him and shrugged helplessly. "I haven't a clue."

"It can't be good though." Jack commented darkly. "He's not exactly a fan, is he?"

"He told me to leave. Obviously I didn't."

Jack studied her expression carefully. "You think he's gonna try and punish you for it?"

Sam pulled a face. "_Punish_ me? What am I _twelve_?"

Jack sighed and rubbed her arm. "He's on the council, Sam. He's powerful. This could be very bad for you."

"I don't care. All I did was refuse to leave when he told me to. _He _on the other hand . . ."

"You said there wasn't any evidence of sabotage. We can't prove he did anything."

Sam growled in irritation. "I _really_ hate that man."

"Yeah. Me too."

Jack rubbed her arm again, soothingly. "Come on. There's nothing we can do about it now. Let's try and get some sleep and deal with it in the morning."

Sam nodded distractedly, and let him pull her back down, fully dressed, to lie in the bed beside him. Jack threw the covers over them both, and put his arm around Sam as she rolled closer to lay her head on his shoulder. He fell asleep thinking furiously about Tomah, and exactly what he'd like to do to the slimy little weasel if the man dared do anything to cause trouble for Sam.

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Again, please review! I am praying for an internet fixing miracle!  
_

_Beka_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Lost - part 17**_

_I got my miracle!!! My internet connection seems to be fixed (my dad is a genius!), so I am back with another chapter for you. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

The next morning Jack and Sam ate in silence at breakfast, both inwardly speculating about what Tomah could possibly be trying to do. The three council members were conspicuously absent from the meal. 

Nothing happened until after Jack had left with the hunters, and Johann had collected Sam and the rest of the tech team to continue working on the water mill designs.

Karelle knocked furtively on the bunker door, and called for Sam. Sam grimaced, and told Johann she might be a while, before joining Karelle outside. On the short walk to the village hall, Sam gathered from Karelle that the council wished to discuss her 'conduct'. She couldn't help but notice that the old woman looked extremely worried.

Sam entered the council chamber, and found herself faced with Kollen, Nassem, and Tomah, sitting down one side of the long table. Tomah gave her a look of smug satisfaction, while Kollen looked at her uneasily. Nassem indicated that she should stand facing them.

"Samantha Carter, are you aware of the reason for this meeting?" Nassem started. He seemed to be leading this little get-together.

"Yes, councillor, I believe I am." Sam replied, trying not to look at Tomah who was trying to bait her into losing her composure.

"Councillor Tomah has alleged that you are guilty of disobeying a direct order from him, on behalf of this council."

Sam tried to look surprised. "I hadn't realised that his request was an order 'on the behalf of the council'."

"What was his request, Samantha?" Nassem asked.

"That I return to my home."

"Did you comply?"

"Eventually."

"Nassem, I feel I must point out that my _order_ was that she leave immediately. She did not comply." Tomah interrupted.

"Yes, thank you, Tomah, we have heard your account." Nassem said calmly. Tomah scowled.

"Why did you not do as Councillor Tomah requested?" Kollen asked.

"I found him in the bunker, alone, late at night. Given his open dislike for me, I feared he may have tried to sabotage my work."

"And did you find evidence of sabotage?" Nassem asked smoothly as Tomah swelled in indignation.

"No. I didn't." Sam admitted, looking at the floor.

Nassem leaned back in his chair. Kollen and Tomah both looked like they wanted to speak, but clearly the younger council member was running this show.

"Samantha, do you find the rules of our society difficult to understand?" Nassem asked eventually, in a slightly patronising voice, that made Sam bristle with dislike.

"No councillor."

"Perhaps then you consider yourself to be _better_ than the other women in Amdra? A class above the rest?"

"_No_ councillor." Sam practically snarled.

"Then why, Samantha, do you continually insist on ignoring the simple hierarchy of our little village? Hmm?"

Sam said nothing. She didn't trust herself to speak at this point.

Tomah smirked at her. Kollen bowed his head. He knew what Nassem was building up to, they'd discussed it before the young woman had arrived, but he didn't like it.

"I think perhaps you need to take some time to think about your place in our village, and the kind of life you want to be able to lead in it. I am hereby relieving you from your work with Johann and re-assigning you to kitchen duty under Karelle's supervision, for a period of one month. You may now leave."

Sam stared at him, outraged. "You can't be serious."

Nassem's expression took on a dangerous undertone. "I assure you, Carter, I am deadly serious. And if you do not leave and report to Karelle immediately, the period will extend to two months."

Sam stood, winded, for another moment, before slowly turning and leaving the room. She found Karelle stood waiting outside.

"I am sorry, Samantha. Nassem and Tomah can be very harsh."

Sam nodded, and angrily followed the old woman to the kitchens.

* * *

Jack stormed into the council chamber, slamming open the door ferociously. 

"What the HELL do you think you're playing at, Tomah?!?" He yelled, ignoring the other two council members who looked decidedly alarmed at Jack's sudden presence.

"Excuse me?" Tomah asked quietly, after he'd recovered from the shock.

"You heard me, you slimy little toe-rag." Jack breathed with venom.

"Jack O'Neill! May I remind you that you are addressing the council of Amdra!" Nassem said loudly and authoritatively. Not that it made much of an impression on Jack. He rounded instead on Nassem.

"You took Sam off the radio project! You know _full well_ she's the only one who has a _clue_ what she's doing with it! Do you want them finished or not??" He yelled.

"Samantha's expertise does not grant her unlimited latitude. She acted wrongly, and must face the consequences."

"_All_ she did was stay to assess potential damage to this village's most precious asset, after she found _that _little weasel –" he stopped to point emphatically at Tomah, breathing heavily, " – having a nice little nosy around after dark. You want to lay into someone, try him! Maybe you can find out what the _hell _was doing!"

"Jack O'Neill, you are trying my patience!" Nassem warned.

"O'Neill, Tomah insists he only went to the bunker to view the masterpiece your wife has created, as he was having trouble sleeping." Kollen told Jack carefully.

"If you believe that, you'll believe anything." Jack fumed. "He's been out to get us from day one!"

"That is enough! You will _both_ spend the remainder of the day in Amdra's isolation room! I will not stand for such disrespect!" Nassem bellowed. He grabbed hold of one of the first finished radios that Johann had presented to the council, and pressed the 'talk' button. "Johann, this is Councillor Nassem, have Elgar, Hammad and Colme report to the council chamber immediately!"

There was a muffled response of 'Yes, councillor' from Johann, and within three minutes the men Nassem had summoned appeared at the door.

"Escort Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter to the isolation room, and guard them until sundown." Nassem ordered them. Two of the men flanked Jack, who, with a last dirty look at Nassem and Tomah, followed them out the door.

* * *

"Jack." Sam said testily. Jack had refused to speak at all when they'd collected her from Karelle in the kitchens, and now he was pacing back and forth in the small space they were being held in. 

"Jack!" She said more forcefully.

"What!" Jack snapped at her. They glared at each other for a moment.

"What the hell did you do?" Sam asked eventually.

Jack growled and resumed his pacing. "Slimy, no-good, underhanded rat-bastards." He muttered.

"Jack, what was the last thing I said to you before you left?" Sam asked, exasperated.

"I don't consider standing up for you to be 'doing something stupid', Sam."

"What did you say to them?"

"What do you think?!?" Jack yelled. "I told them they were insane to take you off the project and that Tomah was up to something! They didn't take it so well. Go figure."

He kicked the wall in irritation, the sighed and sat down opposite Sam.

"There was no reason to put you in here as well." He commented.

Sam glared at him. "Maybe you should have thought of that _before_ you went and lost it with the council."

"Oh fer crying out loud, I was _defending _you!"

"I don't need you to go riding to my rescue, Jack! I can take care of myself!"

"Oh really? So this stint in the kitchens is a voluntary thing, is it?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Well this stint in a holding cell sure as hell isn't!" She retorted.

"Well I'm sorry, maybe next time I'll just let them walk all over you!"

"Maybe you should!"

"Fine!"

They glared at each other again, and then sat in an angry silence. After a long while, Sam sighed.

"Jack." He ignored her.

"Jack, I'm sorry."

He glared at her. "For what?"

"I dunno. I'm just sorry."

His resolve broke. She did look genuinely sorry.

"So am I." He said quietly, shifting over to sit next to her. "I maybe . . . I maybe went a little overboard with the council. But they deserved it."

Sam gave him a small smile. "Yeah."

"Anyway, I'm sorry I got us stuck in isolation." Jack said, nudging her knee with his own.

"I guess I should be flattered that you went to bat for me with the council." Sam admitted.

"You guess?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

Sam's scowl returned, but on a smaller scale. "I _can_ look after myself."

Jack laughed at her. "I watched you kick the goa'uld's asses for over five years, Sam. You think I don't know that?"

"So why did you do it?"

"Because." He suddenly looked very interested in the floor.

Sam nudged him. "Because . . .?"

"Because I care. You're gonna go nuts doing a month's kitchen duty. And we're supposed to look out for each other."

He looked at her, and the sincerity she saw in his eyes was touching. "Thanks."

He smiled a little. "You're welcome."

Sam smiled back. "Hey, maybe a day stuck in a small room with you is better than kitchen duty anyway."

Jack waggled his eyebrows. "I quite agree, Major. I quite agree."

She laughed and hit him. "Idiot."

He rubbed the spot on his arm where she'd hit him. "That's assault, that is! Guards, I want my own room!" Jack joked.

Sam laid her head on his shoulder with a chuckle. "Wanna talk about something?"

Jack rested his cheek against her soft blonde hair. "Sure. What?"

"I dunno. What do you think Teal'c and Jonas are doing?"

"Heaven alone knows. Who d'you reckon replaced us?"

"Replaced us?" Sam asked, lifting her head to look at him with her eyebrows raised.

Jack grinned at her, and squeezed her shoulders.

"You're right. Who could _possibly_ replace _us_?"

* * *

_So, what did you think? Please keep on reviewing, you know how I love them!_

_Beka ;-)  
_


	18. Chapter 18

_**Lost - part 18**_

_Okay, so it's painfully short, but I'm leaving home to go to uni in ONE WEEK, so time is a little tight. Please forgive me. ;-)_

_And review. Forgive me and review.  
_

* * *

When the men guarding Jack and Sam's little prison opened the door at sundown, Jack stood up slowly, stretching his muscles. He smiled at Sam, curled up in a corner of the room, asleep. He brushed a hand against her cheek. 

"Hey, sleepyhead. C'mon. Wake up."

Sam gave a sleepy sigh and opened her eyes, blinking with confusion.

"I fell asleep?" She asked, surprised.

"Yup." Jack smirked at her. "And it's time to go home."

Sam nodded, clambering to her feet. The pair left the cell behind and walked slowly back to their hut. Once there, Sam took the bathroom to change, while Jack slipped into his pyjama pants in the bedroom. He was already lying in bed when Sam came out. He patted the bed beside him.

"_Now_ you can go to sleep." He grinned at her. "And no midnight strolls tonight, okay?"

Sam hit him playfully. "Yes sir."

She settled down beside him, and very quickly fell asleep again. Jack watched her for a moment, and then followed suit, settling down into his pillow and letting the peaceful recesses of sleep claim him.

* * *

The following morning was Sam's idea of hell. 

In the kitchens there was a constant rush of women working, seeming to intuitively know where they were needed and what they should be doing. Sam frequently found herself stood in the middle of it all, feeling lost and in the way, until Karelle would catch up with her. The kind old lady would then attempt to get her stuck into another task, which would take what felt like hours of explanations, followed by tedious repetition as she followed those instructions carefully to the letter, only to result in anger and frustration as another woman yelled at her for missing something that Karelle had left out, thinking it too obvious to mention.

Needless to say, when she was allowed a break at midday, she got as far away from the kitchens as possible, climbing up to her and Jack's usual evening spot, on the hill overlooking the lake.

As she sat there, she closed her eyes, drinking in the cool, clean air, and letting the cold breeze blow in her hair, which had now almost reached shoulder level. Here, there was no noise, no hustle and bustle of the kitchens . . . only peace.

Suddenly, she felt a tingle in her spine. She was being watched. She opened her eyes and twisted round, but behind her she only saw the trees and bushes she'd walked through to get here.

She faced the lake again, and took a deep breath. _It's probably just a fox_, she thought to herself.

There was a rustle in the bushes behind her. This time she stood up and faced the sound, eyes scanning over her surroundings for any sign of the source.

Nothing.

_You're being paranoid. Calm down._

She took a deep breath, but didn't sit back down. She walked slowly back into the trees, thinking that even if there was nothing there, she should probably be getting back anyway.

As she passed the trunk of a particular large tree, she froze again. Her military training kicked in, and she span round to defend herself just as her stalker leapt out of the tree's shadow behind her.

It was Tomah. His eyes were wild, his white hair blowing in the ever strengthening wind, but the hand holding Jack's 9mm side-arm was steady.

"Do not move, or I will shoot." Tomah said quietly, a maniacal grin maiming his features.

Sam slowly raised her hands. "Tomah, what are you doing?" She asked, thinking he had gone mad.

"Protecting Amdra!" Tomah responded, indicating with the gun that she should move back out onto the hill.

"Tomah, I'm not a threat to you, or to Amdra." Sam tried to reason, keeping her hands raised and moving slowly out of the woods, always keeping Tomah and the gun in her line of sight.

"Ha! I didn't believe that when you arrived, and I certainly don't believe it now! You – you and your _husband_, if he even is that, are plotting our downfall!"

Sam shook her head in disbelief. "That's crazy! Tomah, you _saw_ our ship, you know that we crashed. It was an accident! I spent five weeks trying to fix it so we could leave!"

"It was staged. You were sent by Lord Nefru to infiltrate our village, to cause disorder and unrest among our people, so that when the Gods come, we are too weak to fight back!" Tomah spat at her.

He reached into the bag he carried over his shoulder, and pulled out a radio. "What is this intended for?" He asked.

Sam frowned in confusion. "It's a radio, Tomah, you were there when I explained its function to the council."

"I know what you told the council!" He yelled angrily, waving the gun at her. "What part does it play in your plot?"

Sam almost laughed. "Tomah, listen to me! There _is_ no plot! You've got this all wrong!"

"Enough of your lies!!" Tomah bellowed, dropping the bag and radio and advancing on her quickly. In her haste to back away Sam stumbled and fell, leaving her on the ground as Tomah towered over her, the gun trained on her head.

"Tomah, please, just _think_ . . ." Sam implored him. But the old man didn't want to see sense. He was panting heavily, as he slowly backed away to reach the radio, telling her not to move.

Sam sighed. _This idiot is insane.  
_

* * *

_So, will Sam manage to escape the clutches of evil Tomy?_

_Review me! Pretty please?_

_Beka _


	19. Chapter 19

_**Lost - part 19**_

_Yes! I have done it! I have found the time and inspiration to write this chapter! (and so I really, really hope you like it!) _

_I am very sorry to say this, but it is possible it may be a little while again before the next chapter, what with starting uni in three days. OMG - just realised, it's now really only two. AAAAAAAAAH!_

_Please forgive me? ;-)  
_

* * *

Jack raced towards the bunker, weaving through the buildings and dodging the multitude of villages, who were standing around outside in the hope of catching confirmation of the rumours that had been flying around since mid-day. He fought his way through the crowds to the bunker door, and then banged his fist against it loudly. 

"Kollen! Nassem! It's Jack O'Neill, let me in!"

The door was unlocked and swung open, only to shut quickly behind him to block the prying eyes of the villagers. Jack quickly took in his surroundings – Johann was seated at the radio console with Nassem, while Kollen paced nervously behind them. Nassem looked furious.

"What happened?" Jack asked. "You said on the radio that Tomah took Sam hostage." He said, waving the hunting party's radio at the trio.

"That appears to be the situation." Nassem said, face twisted with annoyance.

"We have been trying to talk some sense into Tomah." Kollen told him. "I'm sorry, Jack, I do not know what has come over him."

"He's gone stark raving mad, that's what's _come over_ him! What are you going to do about it?" He demanded.

"We are continuing to negotiate with him. It seems his only demand is that you and Samantha take your space plane and leave." Nassem said.

"Oh fer crying out loud, it's broken! Did he not _notice_ the five weeks Sam spent trying to fix the damn thing?" Jack yelled.

"O'Neill, I must ask you to keep your voice down. We do not want to alarm the villagers." Kollen implored him, looking nervously at the door.

"Alright. What's your plan for after the negotiations fail?" Jack asked Nassem.

Nassem raised his eyebrows. "We do not know that they will."

"Humour me. What if Tomah goes even crazier and gets it into his head to use that gun?"

The two remaining council members exchanged uneasy glances. "We are not accustomed to dealing with such situations, O'Neill." Kollen explained. "Perhaps, with your military background, you could suggest an appropriate course of action."

"One that involves keeping Tomah alive." Nassem added hastily. Jack ground his teeth in irritation at Nassem's add-on.

"Okay, how about I take the hunters and we surround him, and take him down with a tranquilizer dart?" Jack suggested testily.

Nassem and Kollen regarded each other as they considered it.

"The tranquilizer darts are meant for animals, Jack." Kollen said after a pause. "We do not know what affect the dart would have on a man."

"Do we care?" Jack asked. "He _has_ lost it and taken a hostage, after all."

"He is a council member!" Nassem countered angrily. "How do you think the people would react to having one of their leaders slain by an outsider?"

Jack grimaced. "Just a thought."

There was a silence as Jack waited for them to come to a decision.

"Perhaps," started Kollen, "we could compromise. Jack, take your hunters and surround Tomah, but be careful that he does not see you. We will continue negotiations. If we fail, then you can use the tranquilizers."

Kollen looked to Nassem, who gave a stilted nod of approval.

"Thank you." Jack said, swinging the door open and leaving them.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Jack and five other men from the hunting party stood in concealed positions in the woods that bordered the clearing above the lake in a semi-circle. From his position behind a tree, Jack could see Sam, sat on the edge of the hill with her knees pulled up to her chest. He was relieved to see that she didn't seem to be hurt. 

Tomah was pacing, talking agitatedly with Nassem and Kollen over the radio. He kept the gun trained on Sam, although the hand holding it was not nearly as steady as it had been an hour earlier.

The hunter nearest to Jack waved a little to get his attention. Jack nodded at him to go ahead.

"How long do we wait?" The hunter mouthed. Jack winced and shrugged, at a loss. He had been wondering that himself. If it was up to him, he'd have taken the little old creep out the minute they'd arrived thirty minutes ago, but Nassem and Kollen were insistent that they continue to attempt to talk Tomah down. Jack was getting itchy feet, though. He could see Tomah getting increasingly worked up, and he was getting worried that if they didn't act soon, Tomah would get tired of being reasoned with and would decide to take matters into his own hands.

He watched as Tomah completed another lap of the hill space, practically spitting into the radio microphone. He wished there was some way he could communicate with Sam. If she knew they were there, maybe she could help . . .

His thoughts were cut off as Tomah bellowed into the radio.

"NO! I will NOT accept that! They are dangerous, and I want them GONE!" A muffled response came from the radio. "You're not LISTENING!" Tomah yelled back, and threw the radio to the ground. He advanced on Sam, who instinctively tried to back away.

"Get up!" Tomah spat at her. Sam slowly got to her feet, her hands raised.

"Tomah, you don't want to do this." She said quietly.

"Don't talk!"

Jack settled the tranquilizer dart against the cord of his bow, and carefully pulled it back.

Sam closed her eyes as Tomah raised the gun to her head. Jack was about to release his dart into Tomah's back, when another of the hunters fired, and missed, sending the dart sailing over Tomah's head and into the lake far below.

Tomah whirled round, and Jack fired, scoring a hit to the old man's thigh. Tomah howled with rage, and yanked the dart out of his leg. Sam took the opportunity to run as Tomah sank to his knees, but before she reached the tree-line, there was the painfully familiar crack of the gun going off. Jack ran towards her, watching in helpless fear as her eyes widened in shock, before she too fell to her knees, and collapsed face down in the grass.

The other hunters tore out of the woods, rushing to secure the now unconscious Tomah, and inform the council of the situation.

Jack skidded to a halt beside Sam, swearing loudly as he took in the sight of blood soaking her left side. He quickly tore off a strip of his shirt and applied the material to her wound. She flinched and cried out at the sudden pressure, making him realise with some relief that she was still conscious.

"Hang in there, Sam. Help's coming." He reassured her, taking her hand with his free one.

"He shot me." Sam mumbled into the grass, grumpily.

"Yeah. Nice little flesh wound you've got here." Jack commented lightly, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Doesn't feel like a flesh wound." Sam groaned.

"I know. Just hold on, the doc's on his way." He glanced at the man holding the radio, who nodded in confirmation that the doctor _was_ on his way.

Sam's grip on Jack's hand loosened, her breathing becoming less laboured. Jack waggled her hand. "Hey, don't you be falling asleep on me now. Sam, stay with me!" Jack said in his best commanding officer's voice.

"Can't . . ." Sam mumbled, trying to fight the fog in her brain.

"Yes you can, come on." Jack said, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. "Just talk to me about something. Tell me how the radios work."

Sam frowned. "The radios . . . Jack they'll be running out of power soon. The battery . . ." she trailed off.

Jack shook her hand. "Sam! Sam, listen to me. It's okay, they know where we are. It doesn't matter if the radios run out of power."

"We have to stop Tomah." Sam whispered agitatedly. Jack sighed. She was clearly getting delirious.

"We did stop him. He's right there, see?" Jack said, pointing as he was carried back through the woods by two hunters.

"It hurts."

"I know." Jack said, tearing off another strip of his shirt as the first one became soaked through.

Sam's grip on his hand loosened completely, and her eyes fluttered closed.

"Sam!" Jack called to her. "Sam, wake up!"

She stayed resolutely unconscious, and Jack swore again. "Where the hell is Haman?" He yelled to no one in particular.

"Right here, son." The healer called Haman called as he ran out of the trees with several young women Jack took to be nurses.

They surrounded Sam, only Haman paying attention as Jack described her injury. Then she was quickly lifted onto a stretcher, and carried away at a swift trot by two of the remaining hunters, Jack and Haman jogging on either side. As Jack looked down at her pale face, he prayed to whatever gods were listening.

_Please don't take her. Please, please, please don't let her die.  
_

* * *

_So, what did you think? I'd really like feedback on the little action sequence I put in there, as this is sort of the first time I've tried something like that. Did I pull it off?_

_Anyway, I will try to update soon, but like I said, no promises. Sorry, I know I'm mean.  
_

_Beka :-) _


	20. Chapter 20

_**Lost - part 20  
**_

_I am so, so sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, but if you've ever been to uni, you'll know the first week is hectic. Especially since we don't have a proper freshers' weak and my first lecture was on wednesday._

_Anyway, I am back, and I'll aim to give you at least a chapter a week, work permitting. (And for the record, I didn't plan to leave you with a cliff-hanger just as I disappeared for a while, it just sorta happened :-P ) Thank you for your patience, and please review!_

* * *

Sam woke up to the rancid smell of blood, and a dull pain in her left side. _This can't be heaven_, she thought with a grimace. 

She opened her eyes, immediately locating the source of the smell: there was a pile of used bandages on a table to her right hand side. She wiggled her fingers, realising that the fingers of her left hand were restricted by something warm. She raised her head a little, to see what it was, and almost chuckled at the sight that met her.

Jack was sitting on a wooden stool by her bed, head resting on the mattress beside her and his hand holding hers tightly. He was fast asleep.

"Jack." Sam whispered. She laid her head back on the pillow as the effort of holding it up got too much. "Jack." She tried a little louder, rubbing his hand with her free thumb.

Jack stirred, and quickly sat up, only to groan as he jarred his neck.

"You shouldn't sleep like that." Sam smiled sleepily at him, now that he'd re-entered her line of sight.

"Yes, doc." Jack smiled back, squeezing her hand. "It's good to see you awake."

"How long . . . ?" She trailed off.

"Nearly twenty-four hours. The doctor – healer, whatever – managed to get out the bullet and sew you back together, which for these people is a damn miracle in itself."

"They're not that bad." Sam admonished him.

"It felt like it, watching them."

Sam's eyes widened. "You watched?"

"They don't exactly have sterile operating theatres. It all happened out here." Jack told her, grimacing at the memory.

"So that's why the debris is still here?" Sam asked waving at the pile of bloody rags on her right. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah. I'll, uh, I'll just go dump them outside . . ." he got up and gathered them up, holding the bundle well away from him with a look of disgust on his face.

"Better?" He asked when he got back.

"Much." Sam lay there, watching as the expression on Jack's face slowly clouded over. "Hey." She said quietly after a while.

Jack looked at her, and squeezed her hand.

"You okay?" Sam asked, concerned.

Jack rubbed his face with his free hand, and nodded. "Better now. It was touch and go there for a while."

Sam nodded and stared up at the ceiling. "What happened to Tomah?"

Jack's face twisted in disgust. "He survived. He's still out of it, though. They're keeping him in one of the isolation cells under heavy guard until Nassem and Kollen figure out what to do with him."

"So they didn't side with him?" Sam asked, almost surprised. While she was sure Kollen would see the truth, Nassem had shown almost as little respect for them as Tomah had.

Jack looked at her with eyebrows raised. "After he went completely nuts? Of course not."

Sam smiled slightly. "Good." Her eyes drifted closed as she let out a deep breath, trying to ignore the growing pain in her side.

Jack watched her lying there with concern. While the wound had been treated fairly effectively, she'd still lost a lot of blood, and he wasn't sure he trusted the strength of Amdra's idea of pain relief medication.

Still, she was alive. That was something to sing and shout about on its own.

"Sam?" Jack whispered after a while. She slowly opened her eyes and focussed on him. "Yeah?"

He got off the stool and sat facing her on the edge of the bed. He didn't say anything, but held her hand in his lap, stroking it gently with a thumb.

Sam watched him struggle to find words sadly. She didn't want to think about what he must have been through. They were all each other had.

"What?" She prompted him. He brought his gaze up to meet her clear blue eyes.

When he didn't say anything, she smiled encouragingly and squeezed his hand. "I'm okay, Jack."

He nodded. "Yes, you are."

He sat shifted closer to her, and gently stroked her cheek. Then, ever so slowly, his eyes never once leaving hers, he leaned in towards her. Sam held her breath, lost in the moment, as Jack's lips slowly approached her own. Suddenly, all the anxiety, fear, turmoil that she'd been feeling about her growing relationship with him vanished, and all that was left was love.

Jack paused as he hovered over her, looking in her eyes for the permission he felt he needed. Sam gave it willingly, with an infinitesimally small nod of her head.

And he kissed her. Ever so gently, holding his body carefully away from hers so as not to hurt her, he kissed her, letting out all the worry, and concern, and fear he'd felt over the last 24 hours. He'd nearly lost her. He wouldn't let that happen again.

When it was over, Jack looked into Sam's eyes again, somberly wiping away the tears that had tracked down her face. "You okay?" He whispered.

Sam smiled lopsidedly at him through her tears.

"Never been better."

* * *

_I'm sorry it's so short, but better I let you off the hook now and tell you that she survived than make you wait longer until I've written more, right?_

_Thanks for reading!_

_Beka_


	21. Chapter 21

_**Lost - part 21**_

_One weekly dollop of Lost, coming right up! Hope you like it, and please review_

* * *

"Ow . . ." Sam moaned as she came to. She felt like she was on fire – the light pouring through the un-curtained windows was burning her eyes, and firm hands were pressing down on her everywhere, they wouldn't let her up . . .

"Easy, easy Sam, it's okay . . ." Jack's voice lilted through the panic and pain fogging her thought processes. She forced her eyes open again, trying to see past the blinding light.

Slowly, with a lot of squinting, his silhouette emerged from the fiery background, hovering by her bed, his hands among those trying to hold her body still.

"Hurts." She croaked.

"I know, I know." He tried to sooth her, pressing a cool damp cloth against her forehead. She was burning up, a fever raging through her weakened body. Before she'd come round, she'd been lashing out, fighting some invisible force violently, and they'd had to physically hold her down to stop her hurting herself. Now she was calmer, but still restless, and moaning every so often. She was in so much pain, and it was killing him.

"Haman?" Jack turned to the man examining Sam's wound.

"It looks good." Haman said distractedly, peering into Sam's bloody side.

"Good?" Jack repeated incredulously. "Look at her!"

Haman's gaze moved to Sam's face. "I am sorry for her discomfort. I have given her as much pain relief as I dare." He said sadly. "The best we can do is try to keep her temperature down, and keep the injury clean."

Sam cried out as Haman pressed a new bandage onto her gunshot wound, causing Jack to glare at him. Haman muttered an apology, but continued to strap the wound.

Jack wiped the sweat from Sam's face with a cloth, and continued to mutter quiet soothing words into her ear. After a while, the pained expression on her face lessened, her breathing evening out. Even in sleep though, her body remained tense.

He sighed and sat back down on the stool, nodding to the nurses as they left, no longer needed. This was so hard.

"Jack." A tired a voice called from the door.

"Kollen." Jack twisted in his chair to see the old man. He looked almost as bad as Jack felt.

"How is Samantha?" Kollen asked, approaching the bed.

"Not too good. Haman said the wound looks good, but she's in a lot of pain, and she has a fever." Jack informed him.

"I am sorry to hear that. I truly hope she is well again soon."

Jack nodded his thanks silently.

"What's going on out there?" He asked after a while, gesturing towards the town hall.

Kollen sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "There is fierce debate about what should be done with Tomah. Some feel he should be imprisoned for the remainder of his days, others feel he has simply made a mistake and deserves a second chance."

Jack looked up sharply.

"I assure, you, Jack, I am not one of them." Kollen said, his face grave.

"I know. But please tell me Nassem isn't either."

"He is not. He advocates a third option." He said carefully.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"He . . . believes that Tomah should be made an example of."

Jack gestured for him to continue.

Kollen let out a deep breath. "You have to understand, we have not had crime of this nature in our village in generations. There are disagreements, dishonesties occasionally, but never attacks, and certainly not attempted murder."

"So what does Nassem want to do?"

There was a pause, during which Kollen seemed to be finding the energy to speak.

"He wants Tomah executed."

Jack's eyebrows shot still higher. "I'm sorry?"

Kollen gave him a grave look.

"He's changed his tune hasn't he? He was adamant that we keep Tomah alive when we went in for Sam."

"He has contemplated the matter, and he now believes it is in the public interest."

"You disagree." It was more of an observation than a question.

"Yes." Kollen nodded. "Nassem and I have spent many hours arguing the point. I will not back down from my position though, even if I have to fight with Nassem for months. We cannot, cannot act so rashly. To do so would divide Amdra, at a time when we need to unite."

Jack nodded slowly, thinking about it. While he could see the old man's point, he couldn't quite bring himself to disagree with Nassem's sentiments. He'd gladly see Tomah killed. Hell, he'd gladly do it himself.

"It may come down to a vote." Kollen said, bringing Jack out of his musings.

"A vote?"

"It seems just, that at a time when the council has failed the people, the people decide the retribution."

"So everyone votes?" Jack asked.

Kollen nodded. "All the workers."

Jack looked at Kollen carefully, frowning. "When you say 'workers' . . ."

"The people who work. The men." Kollen elaborated.

"Ah." Jack grimaced and looked nervously at Sam, who was still fast asleep. "You know Sam's not gonna be happy when she hears that."

Kollen smiled slightly. "I expected as much. However, in such a time of turmoil, it is necessary to keep as much normality and order as possible. Now is not the time for reform."

"Well that's certainly gonna be a fun conversation." Jack muttered, stroking Sam's hair out of her face.

Kollen stood suddenly. "If you will excuse me, I think I must return to the Council chamber. I believe it would be unwise to leave Nassem alone for too long."

Jack nodded with a grim smile. "Good luck."

Kollen clapped Jack on the shoulder as he left. "And to you, Jack."

* * *

As Sam woke up for the third time since her arrival at the 'healing house', she became aware of two things: firstly, the pain had become almost bearable, and secondly, there was a great commotion outside. Shadows flitted past the windows, blocking out the morning sunlight currently streaming through the windows.

She turned her head and tried to focus on the occupant of the bedside stool. It wasn't Jack.

"Karelle?" Sam croaked, coughing a little. Karelle smiled, and got up to bring a beaker of water to the younger woman's lips.

"Hello, Samantha. It is good to see you awake."

"What's going on, where's Jack?" She asked after gingerly sipping the water, gratefully letting it trickle down her dry throat.

"There is a vote in progress. He has gone to take part."

"A vote?"

Karelle took Sam's hand gently. "Yes, dear. The villagers are deciding Tomah's fate."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "The village . . . they're voting on it?"

"Yes. Kollen and Nassem felt it was the only fair way to decide."

Sam nodded slowly.

"Why aren't you voting?" She asked after a while.

Karelle looked confused. "The women do not vote. It is the men's decision."

"Excuse me?" Sam was shocked. "Why the hell don't the women get a say? Tomah was their leader too."

Karelle sighed. "You know the laws here, Sam. It is not our way."

"So you're telling me that the women, who make up over fifty per cent of this village's population, aren't considered intelligent or valuable enough to give them equal say in such an important decision?"

Karelle stroked Sam's hand soothingly. "I am sorry. I know it angers you that women are not equal with men, here, but it is the reality. The men will make a good decision. Trust them."

"Like we were supposed to trust Tomah?" Sam said bitterly, glaring at the ceiling. She closed her eyes, wishing she could get up and go make a scene at the voting stations. She would too, if she thought she could stand without collapsing in pain.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" Karelle asked gently.

Sam frowned, confused. "Talk about what?"

"Your ordeal with Tomah." Karelle said. "I am sure it must have been quite frightening."

Sam waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. Believe me, I've experienced far worse."

Karelle looked shocked, but didn't press the issue.

"So what are the options?" Sam asked.

"Options?"

"In the vote. What are the choices being offered?"

Karelle seemed to consider her words before speaking. "There are three suggested sentences at this time. The first is lifelong imprisonment. The second is a shorter imprisonment. If enough villagers vote for this 'option', there will be a second vote regarding the span of his sentence." She said.

Sam waited, but Karelle seemed unwilling to say anything more. "Karelle? What's the third option?"

Karelle closed her eyes. "Execution."

There was a pause during which the word and its implications seemed to hang in the air like a bad smell.

"I see." Sam said quietly. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. While a part of her, a big part of her, would like nothing more than to see Tomah dead, she had to admit it was a selfish wish. She knew Amdra's history, and how serious an action that would be. They were not a violent people, and if a majority did vote for Tomah's execution, it could badly affect the village's morale, not to mention the dangerous precedent it could set. She thought about Jack. Somehow she thought he'd be voting for the last option, and she couldn't help feeling a little comforted by it.

"Do you have any idea what the likely outcome will be?" Sam asked tentatively.

Karelle sighed and opened her eyes. "I would expect the people to vote for Tomah's lifelong imprisonment. I hope that will be the result. It would cause the least damage and upset in Amdra, I think."

Sam nodded. She closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists, trying to block out the growing ache in her side.

"Samantha? Are you alright?" Karelle asked, concerned.

"Yeah." Sam smiled weakly at her. "I think I'm going to go back to sleep though, I'm kinda tired."

Karelle nodded, and smoothed the covers over her with a kind of motherly affection that made Sam a little homesick. It reminded her of Janet.

"Sleep well, Samantha."

Sam smiled again, feeling consciousness slowly drift away, softly on the breeze wafting through the window . . .

* * *

___Okay, so I MAY have gotten a little stupid and fluffy at the end, but otherwise, what did you think? Please review, my muse and I really do appreciate it!  
_

___Beka_


	22. Chapter 22

_**Lost - part 22**_

_Yes, the verdict is here! Will Tomy live or die . . . read on to find out!_

* * *

"People of Amdra!" Kollen called out over the noise of the crowd below him. They were gathered at the base of a hill, upon which Tomah and Kollen stood, Kollen with his arms outstretched to call silence as he spoke. "The Council have counted the votes, and we are now able to make known the result."

A hush fell, leaving only the sound of the leaves blowing in the wind. Karelle stood towards the back of the crowd, with Jack. Sam was back in the Healing house, anxiously awaiting news.

"Approximately three fifths of the village, have voted for Kollen's lifelong imprisonment." Kollen revealed.

A ripple of murmurs swept through the crowd. No cheers, no gasps of shock, just quiet acceptance.

At the back of the crowd, Jack nodded, then turned and headed back to the healing house, leaving Karelle standing alone.

* * *

"Hey." Jack dropped down into the seat by Sam's bed.

"Hey." Sam looked up from the book she was reading – or trying to read. She hadn't quite mastered the local written language, yet. "What was the . . .?"

"Lifelong imprisonment."

Sam nodded. "Pretty much what everyone was expecting, then."

"Yup."

She frowned at him, detecting the odd tone in his voice. "What?"

Jack looked up, and raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"You look . . . disappointed."

"Disappointed? No. It was the right decision." Jack said.

"'But'." Sam said, taking his hand.

"_But_ it seems like a bit of a weak assed sentence." Jack sighed. "They're basically gonna be keeping him under house arrest. He'll stay in one of the houses on the outskirts of the village, with regular meals and access to the library. It's retirement." He said in disgust.

Sam winced and squeezed his hand. "He'll never be able to leave the house, though. It might be a comfortable prison, but it's still a prison."

"Yeah." Jack let his eyes fall on the end of the bed moodily.

Sam sighed and laid her head back against the pillows. "Jack, it's over. Let it go."

"He shot you, Sam!" Jack retorted.

"Yes, he did. But I'm going to be fine, and he's going to be locked up for the rest of his life. I just want to move on from it."

He turned to look at her, seeing the plea in her eyes. "Fine. But I will be talking to the Council about it. Again."

Sam nodded. "Okay. Now, when can I get out of here?"

Jack smirked and rolled his eyes at her affectionately. "It's been what, three days? You can't just get shot on a planet with questionable medical facilities and expect to skip on home a few days later."

She grinned. "Worth a try."

Jack smiled back at her, thanking his lucky stars once again that she was really there, talking to him, alive. He leaned forward, and gently brushed her lips with a kiss, before pulling back to look at her. Her eyes, her shy smile, everything about her was beautiful to him.

"You know, I really think it's time we embrace this 'husband/wife' gig." Jack whispered. Sam's eyes widened.

"Jack O'Neill, are you asking me to marry you?"

Jack grinned at her. "As far as everyone except the council and Karelle know, we're already married. So no, not really."

Sam laughed at him.

"I'm asking if we could, you know, maybe . . ." he trailed off.

"Be husband and wife in more ways than just for show?" Sam finished for him, smiling slightly and tracing the contours of his face with her fingers.

He looked at her seriously, gazing into her deep blue eyes.

"Yes."

She reached up and kissed him, ignoring the protest of her wounded side.

"In that case Jack, call me Major Sam O'Neill."

* * *

_So, what did you think? Sorry it was short . . . my muse is playing hard to get. That and matrices are eating away at my soul._

_Beka_

_P.S. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze review!!! _


	23. Chapter 23

**_Lost - part 23_**

_Hey, here's chapter 23! I very nearly didn't get this one finished this weekend, so enjoy! And review, naturally. _;-D

* * *

"Can I open them now?" Sam asked with a grin on her face. 

"No." Jack was holding her hand as he lead her along, watching the ground in front of her carefully to be sure that she didn't trip.

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"_Sam._"

She laughed, as Jack slapped her arm playfully.

"Patience." He whispered into her ear.

Sam kept quiet for an extra thirty seconds. "Now?" She asked as he pulled her to the right to avoid a children's ball game.

"What did I just say?" Jack demanded jovially.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Here." He said, stopping them at last.

"So can I . . . ?"

"Open your eyes."

She did. At first she didn't recognise where they were. Then –

"Oh my God."

Jack grinned at the amazement on her face.

"Oh my God!" She repeated, turning towards him, a confused smile lighting her features. "You built the extension!"

They were standing outside their own little hut of a house, only now it had almost doubled in size. The roof was new as well, the old thatch one having been stripped away in the building process. She wandered towards the windows to look inside, but the shutters were locked on the inside.

"Do you like it?" He asked.

"I love it!" Sam exclaimed. "But when did you find the time to do it? You've barely left me alone for a minute."

"Well . . . I had a little help."

He took her hand, and led her into the house. The door opened into their bedroom, which looked exactly the same except for the new covers on the bed. But there was a door in the right hand wall that hadn't been there before. Jack smiled at her lopsidedly as he pushed it open.

Immediately there was a rush of sound and light, as the shutters were thrown open, and the occupants of the room cheered loudly. It was Johann, four other members of Sam's tech team, and five of the hunters, all cheering. A large banner bore the words 'WELCOME HOME SAM' in Jack's handwriting, hanging against the back wall.

Sam laughed, completely bowled away by the welcome.

"Welcome home." Johann said, walking forwards and gripping her hand with a smile.

"Thank you." Sam said sincerely, touched by the gesture. She hadn't realised Johann cared.

"Sam, meet our builders." Jack said, sweeping his arm around the room.

"They all did this?"

"Yup." He beamed at them.

"We thought it would be a nice surprise for you." Grego, one of the hunters, said.

"I don't know what to say." Sam said, grinning at 1000 watts. "Thank you, so much."

"It was our pleasure." Johann told her warmly.

"Alright, boys, that's our cue to go." Grego called to the hunters, pointing them out the door with one beefy arm.

"You're leaving?" Sam asked, surprised.

"We just came to tell you welcome home, Samantha, and now we'll leave you to enjoy your home and your husband's company."

"And Haman only agreed to this on the condition that it was a quick in and out meet and greet." Jack added out of the corner of his mouth with a grin. Sam gave an exasperated huff.

"He finally let me out of that place after a long two weeks and yet he's still controlling my every move." She groused half-seriously.

"We'll see you both at dinner." Grego told her, smiling. "It's good to see you home, Samantha. The village has been . . ." he glanced at Jack as he searched for the right Tau'ri expression, "'crossing its fingers' for you."

He led the other hunters out, most of them slapping Jack on the back as they passed, and saying goodbye to a beaming Sam. The tech team left next, with only Johann remaining behind.

"I really can't thank you enough for this, Johann. It's amazing." She wasn't sure whether she was just referring to the house, or Johann's own participation in it.

"You and I may not always have agreed, Samantha, but you are still a member of my team. We missed you very much." He gave her a small smile as he took her hand. "We were all very glad to hear that you would be alright."

Sam smiled back at him. "Thank you." She said with absolute sincerity.

Johann's gaze shifted to Jack's, searching his face for something. Jack grinned. "Tell her."

"Tell me what?" Sam asked curiously.

"While you were in the healing house, we were able to complete two new radios, and boost their signal further." Johann said with a proud smile.

"Really? That's great! So we've got ten fully functioning handheld models now?"

Johann nodded. "And they reach 3000 niks."

Sam's jaw dropped. "Three _thousand_?"

"Which comes to about 3 miles, I believe." Jack chimed in.

"That's fantastic!" Sam exclaimed. "It's almost double where we were last time I was there."

"Well, I admit, it was very difficult without you there, but after much trial and error we were able to find a frequency that just about reached the 3000 mark."

She smiled at him. "You did that _and_ found time to double the size of our house! That's quite an achievement."

Johann ducked his head bashfully. "Yes, well, I'd better be leaving you to it." He said awkwardly, offering her a small smile. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to _be_ back. Thank you, Johann."

And then they were alone.

"Wow." Was all Sam could say.

Jack grinned and slipped an arm round her shoulders. "Well, ma'am, would you like the guided tour?"

"Why thank you, sir." Sam returned playfully.

Jack took her through every inch of the new room, not only showing her the areas but what he envisioned happening in each of them. There was a large desk facing out into the room in the far left corner, where Sam could work, complete with drawers, an oil lamp, and even a pencil holder ready and waiting. In the closer left hand corner was a workbench, a saw already hanging from its end, which Jack said they'd share. He wouldn't tell her what he was planning to build with it though. Then on the right hand side there was a space with three big wool-stuffed chairs, and the windows on that side reached right down to the ground, the shutters becoming more like French doors. A low round table sat in the middle of the chairs, a candle on it for when it got dark.

"I was hoping the rug would be done before you got out, too." Jack said. Sam chuckled and hugged him.

"It's beautiful, Jack."

"Yeah, it is."

"Best welcome home present ever."

Jack grinned at her lopsidedly, and then kissed her, her right arm snaking up around his neck. Her left tried to follow, but was stopped by a sharp stab of pain. She hadn't managed to fully stretch her left arm up yet without pulling on her healing wound. It was getting there, but she was still not recovered enough to have been fit for active duty at the SGC, had they still been there.

"Okay?" Jack asked, noticing her soft hiss of pain.

"Yeah." Sam smiled at him. "All the better for being here."

"Well, Mrs O'Neill, welcome home."

Sam scowled at him.

"What?"

"_Mrs?_" Sam repeated, eyebrows raised.

Jack almost rolled his eyes. "Welcome home _Major_O'Neill."

She grinned at him, satisfied. "Better."

He leaned in to give her another long, lingering kiss. God he loved doing that.

"Welcome home Sam."

* * *

_Home sweet home. What did you think? It's a little longer than the last one, which I realise was painfully short! _

_I have beaten back the evil forces of matrices, and am now contending with the horrors of calculus! So please review, as it not only feeds my skinny starving muse, but also helps ward off the dreaded maths blues :-P_

_Beka _


	24. Chapter 24

**_Lost - part 24_**

_Okay, I'm warning you now, this chapter is pure fluff. What can I say, I was in a fluffy mood! If you're only reading the story for the non-SJ plotline, you may as well skip this chapter . . . but please don't because, as always, I crave feedback!!!_****

* * *

"Oh fer crying out loud, Sam! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Sam turned from her precarious position on top of a work desk, to raise her eyebrows at Jack, standing in the doorway of the bunker.

"I couldn't reach the screwdriver." She said, shrugging.

"You're_supposed_ to be taking it easy!"

"I am!"

"How long have you been working?" Jack asked pointedly. A flicker of panic crossed Sam's features.

"Umm –"

"I'll tell you how long you've been working. Five hours."

"Five isn't so –"

"Hamel said two and a half, max. I can't baby-sit you twenty-four seven, Sam, I need you to actually follow orders."

Sam bristled, jumping down from the table. "I don't _need_ a baby-sitter, thank you very much."

"Then act like it! If Hamel says two and a half hours, you do two and a half hours, not three, and certainly not five!"

"I know my own limits, I don't need some alien doctor with no clue about my medical history telling me I can't work when I'm fine."

"You're not fine, and you're coming home now." Jack declared, slinging her carry-bag over his shoulder.

Sam glared at him. "Yes _sir_."

Jack had started back towards the door, but now he span round angrily to face her.

"Will you _stop_ that? Every time you're in a mood with me, you call me sir."

"Well stop treating me like a subordinate then! This is supposed to be a relationship, a _marriage_, not a branch of the frickin' military!"

They were yelling now, standing inches apart, furious.

Then, suddenly, they weren't fighting, they were kissing, passionately, desperately, and then Jack pulled her out the door and they were running. In minutes they were home, the door slammed behind them as Jack pushed Sam against the wall, kissing her hungrily.

Right there, in that cold afternoon, they lost themselves in each other, climbing new heights of passion together. And afterwards, they lay together in bed, Sam's head resting on Jack's shoulder as she slowly slipped into a happy doze.

Hours later, she woke up to find Jack stroking her hair and humming.

"So much for taking it easy." She muttered sleepily. Jack smirked.

"You slept, didn't you?" He retorted. For some reason, Sam found that extremely funny, and she buried her face in his shoulder as she giggled.

"Hey, no giggling."

"Shut up."

Jack tilted his head to look at her fondly. "Okay."

They lay in silence together, Jack pulling the duvet higher up over them when Sam shivered.

"We should get up. It'll be dinner time soon." He whispered.

"Hmm." Sam replied distractedly.

Sensing the thoughtful shift in her mood, Jack rubbed Sam's arm gently. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking."

"What about?"

Sam hesitated, before pulling herself up to look at him. "Jack . . . I don't have any birth control pills left."

Jack nodded slowly. "I figured as much."

Sam frowned. "You did?"

Jack smirked slightly. "Well you're not going to have packed _that_ much just for a test flight, are you?"

"So . . . you're okay with it?" She asked uncertainly.

"Sam, quit beating round the bush and ask me the question you really want to ask."

"Are you okay with . . . with the possibility of me getting pregnant?"

She watched Jack's face anxiously, trying to read the answer in his expression. Slowly, his slight smirk grew to a full grin. He pulled her close and kissed her tenderly.

"Yes, I'm okay with it. I am _much_ more than okay with it."

Sam's smile grew to match his. "Good."

She laid her head back on his shoulder. "Can you imagine, us having a kid, here?"

Jack closed his eyes. In his mind's eye he could see Sam, heavily pregnant, laughing as she scooped a little girl off the floor to rest on her hip, a little girl with wavy blonde hair and his dark eyes, both of them turning and grinning identical grins at him as he walked towards them.

"Yeah. I can. And I can't wait."

* * *

_So . . . too short and very fluffy. But hopefully not too excruciating? I wasn't sure how to cross this particular line without completely ignoring the issue or going into too much detail for my 'T' rating. Hopefully I didn't do _too_ badly. Put me out of my misery and tell me what you think!_

_Beka _


	25. Chapter 25

**_Lost - part 25 _**

_Hope this meets with approval. I am at war. SOMEONE stole my food. I will not rest until their identity is revealed to me and my revenge exacted. Sausage thieves beware._

* * *

"If you vote for me, I will serve you and Amdra's memory as well as I am able, and as much as this village deserves." There was a smattering of polite applause as the fourth candidate for Tomah's council seat walked back down the hill to join the crowd. 

"If one more of them utters the words 'if you vote for me' I cannot be held responsible for my actions." Jack muttered. Sam, standing beside him, smirked and elbowed him in the ribs.

"It's an election, Jack. What do you expect?"

"I hate politics." He groused.

"People of Amdra!" A loud male voice called out from the hill. It was the next candidate. "A vote for me, is a vote for the future of this village!"

"Oh please." Jack hissed.

"Yeah, I admit that was bad." Sam said with a grimace.

"Why can't they just post their names and plans for the future on a notice board somewhere? Less of this phony rallying the troops crap."

"You mean you can actually read the local written language?" Sam asked, surprised.

"I'm learning!" Jack said, raising his hands defensively.

"It wouldn't work anyway. Most of the women here were never taught to read." She said, a hint of annoyance lacing her voice.

Jack frowned, and looked at her hesitantly. "So . . . the women can vote?"

Something flared in Sam's expression. "You don't think we'd be excluded from this one too?"

"I think . . . you should check with Karelle." Jack said carefully.

With much furious muttering, Sam vanished into the crowd.

Jack watched her go, wincing. "Oops."

* * *

"Karelle!" Sam called out as soon as she laid eyes on her. As she approached, she realised that the old woman wasn't alone. 

"Councillor Kollen. I apologise for interrupting."

"Not at all, Samantha. How are you enjoying the speeches?" Kollen asked politely.

Sam gave a forced smile. "They're . . . certainly enthusiastic."

He chuckled. "Yes, I'm sorry to say the speech I gave for my own election was . . . enthusiastic."

"Was there something you wished to ask, Samantha?" Karelle asked, studying the younger woman curiously.

"Actually, yes. Will the women be permitted to vote in this election?"

Kollen and Karelle exchanged uneasy looks.

"It is not our usual custom." Kollen answered.

"The leadership of the village has always been decided by the men." Karelle added.

Sam bit back a sharp retort. "I'm sorry to hear that." She said evenly.

Karelle sighed and took her hand. "My dear, I understand that things were different where you come from, but you must try to understand _our_ position. Change happens slowly. And in such a difficult situation as this, with Tomah's actions still fresh in everyone's minds, it is best not to . . ." she struggled to find the right words.

"Rock the boat." Sam finished.

Karelle frowned, then nodded. "Yes."

"In the next election, we can bring it up again." Kollen said kindly. "This time it is just too soon."

Sam gave a tight smile. "I guess I wouldn't get very far suggesting that women be allowed candidacy in elections, then?" She asked lightly. Kollen and Karelle both looked a little shocked.

"Candidacy? You mean, have women on the _council_?" Kollen asked.

"Is that such a strange concept? You respect Karelle here as much as Nassem, don't you?" Sam asked, gesturing to the man's wife.

"Of course, but –"

"But . . . you don't think women have the intelligence required?"

Kollen laughed. "Samantha, if you have achieved anything here, it is proving the worth of a woman's intelligence."

"Then what?"

Kollen looked pained. "It is just . . ."

"Too soon?"

"It would rock the boat." Karelle said with a sad smile.

Sam sighed in frustration. _If you ask me the boat could do with some rocking_, she thought.

"Samantha, I promise you, once life here as returned to normal, I will bring the matter up with the council. Do not expect instant results, however. Nassem will surely oppose it, and as most men in the village would also be opposed to women voting, I can not rely on support from the new member." Kollen said.

"Where is Nassem, anyway?" Sam asked after a pause. Kollen frowned.

"I do not know. He left immediately after the speeches began."

"Setting a bit of a bad example, isn't it?" Sam asked lightly.

Kollen let out a deep breath. "I am sure he would not miss the speeches without good reason."

Sam nodded, and let the matter drop.

"I must leave you now, also. As Nassem is absent it falls to me to organise the vote."

With that, he swept away, leaving Sam and Karelle to stand and watch the last candidate walk back down to the crowd, arms raised to the sky.

* * *

"I can't believe that shrub Mackney won." Jack muttered darkly as he pulled back the covers of their bed that night. 

"It was Makeen." Sam corrected him. "And he gave a good speech."

"He was just trying to get the crowd excited!"

"He had some good ideas." Sam countered. "And he was the _only_ candidate who mentioned women's rights as an issue that needed addressing."

"Well if you ask me, he's just gonna turn into Nassem's lackey. If you're hoping he'll bat for you on the council then fifty bucks says you'll be disappointed."

"You don't have fifty bucks!" Sam laughed at him.

"An IOU?" Jack offered as he lay back in bed.

"What would I do with it? Wallpaper the bunker?"

"Hmm." Jack looked like he was considering it. "Nah, green wouldn't work in there."

Sam smiled as she settled at his side. "Kollen promised he'd 'bat for me' anyway."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "He did?"

"He's a good man. And Karelle holds a lot more influence over him than people realise."

"Gotta love that woman." Jack said fondly. Karelle had been a huge help to him while Sam was in the healing house, bring him food, running interference between him and the council, overseeing the work on their house, and sitting with Sam while he was needed elsewhere. She was a very kindly old woman, who had taken the pair of them under her wing in a motherly way.

"Kollen's more of an academic than a politician. He talks over all the major council decisions with Karelle before voting." Sam told him. Jack's eyebrows rose even higher.

"How do you know that?"

"Karelle told me."

"When?"

"At the election, when she was trying to convince me that women weren't completely voiceless in Amdra."

Jack nodded. "If you ask me, she would've made a great council member."

Sam smiled against his chest. "Damn right she would. I told her as much."

"What did she say?"

"That it wasn't her place."

"Oh, pshaw. She's practically on it anyway, from what you've said. And I bet our lives would be easier with two friendlies on the council to balance out Nassem." Jack pointed out.

"Not that he's causing any problems at the moment. He wasn't even at the election today."

Jack raised his head to look at her. "He wasn't?"

"No. And Kollen didn't know where he was either."

Jack laid his head back down. "Huh. Odd."

"Yeah." Sam closed her eyes sleepily.

"I guess it could have been worse." Jack commented idly.

"Huh?"

"We could have got Lincy."

"Who -?"

"The short bald guy who wanted a village religion dedicated to the forest."

Sam snorted. "Like he stood a chance of getting in! He got two votes, and those were his brothers'!"

"Ya. All hail the mighty tree. May its leaves deliver us from our sins. Now let's study bark rubbings for divine signs!"

Sam poked him, laughing. "Stop it, Jack."

Jack chuckled and buried his nose in her soft blonde hair. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

_So . . . what did you think? Please feed my muse, in lieu of the actual food that my stomach was denied tonight! Reviews are the best food a humble muse can dream of. And yes, I am aware that I finished that sentence with a preposition. Bad me. _

_Beka ;-) _


	26. Chapter 26

**_Lost - part 26 _**

_26 chapters? Phew, this is turning out to be a long story. Guess I should be making the chapters longer, huh? _

_Anyway, random waffle over, hope you enjoy the chapter. Please let me know what you think of it! (translation: pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze review!!!!)   
_

* * *

There was a knock on the door. 

"Enter." Kollen called distractedly. Into the Council chamber walked Jack and Sam, Jack still carrying his bow and arrows from the hunt he'd left.

"You wanted to see us?" Jack prompted when Kollen didn't look up from his papers.

"Yes, yes, please sit." He waved at the seats opposite.

"How's Makeen settling in?" Sam asked politely.

Kollen gave her a wry smile. "He is doing his utmost to endear himself to Nassem. He has much to learn." He pulled a book towards him, an old, old looking book, with pages brown and crinkled with use. "Jack, Samantha. Before I was a councillor, I was a scholar. A . . . historian, if you will. I studied records of Amdra's and our planet's past. I have called you away from your work, because I have found something that I believe may be of interest to you."

Two sets of eyebrows rose. "Oh?" Jack leaned forward.

Kollen grinned. "When you first arrived here, you were anxious to learn if there was a . . . . a device, I believe you called it, a piece of advanced technology which you could use to turn off the –" he paused and looked at Sam, frowning. "What was it, Samantha?"

"Electro-magnetic field?" Sam offered.

"Yes! A device which controls the electro-magnetic field." Kollen continued. "You wanted to find it, or anything of Elven origin which could help you return home. I have, for quite some time, been studying the period of our history 100 years before the uprising against the Gods. This book –" he raised the old book like a trophy "- has been most helpful. However, what I believe _you_ will find most interesting, is this section." He showed Sam and Jack a section of text in the middle of the book. Sam looked up at Kollen, curiously.

"Can you translate it?"

Kollen nodded. "It speaks of an Elven lab, where an Elf scientist named Rokezar invented incredible machines of great power, using the magic of the Gods."

Sam's jaw dropped. "A lab? A Goa'uld lab, here?"

"Do you know where it is?" Jack asked.

Kollen's gaze fell again to his notes. "Not exactly."

"What does that mean?" Jack asked impatiently, feeling increasingly like Kollen was channelling Daniel.

"There is a riddle that we must solve, to learn the lab's location. I will read it to you.

_Twelve from the Elf Gate  
Where North is revealed  
Light meets light  
And old wounds heal"_

Kollen looked at the couple, who wore identical frowns. "I believe the 'Elf Gate' refers to the entrance of the Elves' camp, when Lord Nefru was still in power." He pulled out a map, on which he had drawn a circle. "I am hoping 'twelve' means twelve niks. The circle represents all points that are twelve niks from the estimated location of the camp entrance."

"But we want to go North, right? 'Where North is revealed' . . ." Jack said.

"I'm not sure." Sam said, still frowning. "I don't think it would be that simple."

"Still, it's worth checking out." Jack said.

Sam nodded. "Of course."

"You know what I don't get?" Jack said, his own frown returning.

Kollen and Sam both looked to him.

"Why leave it as a riddle? Why wouldn't they just write down the location for future generations to take advantage of it?"

"Maybe they didn't feel it was safe to reveal the exact location, in case the book was discovered. This _was_written while Nefru was still around, after all." Sam suggested, sounding unconvinced by her own argument.

"Perhaps it was not a slave who wrote the book." Kollen suggested.

Jack and Sam looked at each other. "A jaffa maybe? One with Teal'c's sense of freedom?" Sam offered.

"A jaffa who learnt how to write in the local language? It still sounds . . . odd, to me."

Sam's expression took on a faraway look. "Maybe there was outside intervention."

Jack's eyebrows raised. "Outside intervention?"

Sam looked him straight in the eye. "Where else have we had to solve puzzles to get to advanced technology?"

After a beat, Jack answered. "The Hall of Thor's might. Thor's Hammer . . . what was the planet called?"

"Cimmeria."

"Yeah, . . . you think the Asgard are involved?" He asked sceptically.

"Well, no, that seems unlikely under the circumstances. But it might not be a Goa'uld lab."

"The text says 'Elven'." Kollen interjected.

"Yes, but does 'Elf' mean goa'uld, or alien?"

There was a pause, in which Kollen opened his mouth to speak, then frowned and went to rummage in his pile of books stacked in the corner.

"So . . . you think some other alien race built a lab here, and then wrote about it in a history book." Jack summarised while Kollen perused his notes.

"I think it's a possibility." Sam said. "Think about it . . . haven't most of the advanced alien races we've come across been reluctant to pass on technological secrets without assurances that we're mature enough as a race to use it wisely? It seems to me that this is exactly what that is – solving the riddle would prove that we're advanced enough to understand the contents of the lab."

Jack nodded thoughtfully, mulling over the information in his head. He looked over to the old man hunched over his books in the corner. "Kollen, what have you got?"

"I was checking another book, written in the same period." He said, returning to the table. "I had noticed before that there was a discrepancy, but I had just put it down to purposeful writer omission."

"What was the discrepancy?"

"This one –" he touched the new book he had collected from the pile, "speaks of a series of sightings. People believed they were seeing a ghost, or that the Elves were haunting them as punishment for their wrong-doings. The strange figure would only ever appear at night, in the woods quite far from the camp."

"And the other book doesn't mention it?" Sam guessed.

Kollen's eyes gleamed as he looked up. "No."

"Our little alien scientist sneaking out of his 'lab'?" Jack suggested.

Sam grinned. "I'd say it's a definite possibility."

Kollen sat down again. "We need to solve the riddle. I'm afraid I have no idea what the rest of it means, beyond 'twelve from the Elf Gate'."

"Well, maybe we can figure it out." Sam said, gesturing between herself and Jack. At Jack's raised eyebrows, she hurried on. "I mean, we're not Daniel or Jonas, but it's got to be worth a try, hasn't it?"

Jack gave an acquiescing nod.

"I will render assistance where needed." Kollen said, excited. "And I will inform Johann and Grego that you will be absent from work for a short time."

Jack winced and held up a hand. "Ah, Kollen, I really don't think I'm going to be much help with this. I mean, Sam's not Daniel but she is _way_ more likely to figure this out than I am. I'm more the muscles of the outfit."

At Sam's amused grin he qualified it further. "After Teal'c, that is."

Kollen smiled and nodded. "I will inform Johann, then."

Jack stood up. "Why don't I drop in on him on my way back to the hunters? Then you two kids can stay and do your deciphering."

Kollen frowned at Jack's referring to him as a 'kid', but nodded. "Thank you, Jack."

Sam smiled up at him. "See you later."

He squeezed her shoulder lightly, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

"Have fun."_   
_

* * *

_So, what did you think? Do you like the new story direction? My muse is eternally starving for food (i.e. reviews!) _

_Also, I'd just like to say a big big BIG thank you to everyone who's been reviewing till now – I really really REALLY appreciate it, and I know I don't say that enough. Thank you! _

_Beka_


	27. Chapter 27

**_Lost - part 27_**

_I can only beg for your forgiveness for the incredibly disgustingly long gap between this chapter and chapter 26. I have no excuse for not having updated a week ago. I am genuinely sorry for keeping you waiting so long._

_On a happier note, I hope you like this chapter, and please review - as long as you're not too annoyed at me for the horribly long wait. As a fanfic reader, I know how annoying it can be. I promise I'll try not to let it go over a month between chapters again._

* * *

Evening meal was nearly over when Sam hurried over to the table Jack was sitting at, smiling her gratitude when he pushed a plate of food towards her. 

"How goes the deciphering?" He asked. Sam winced.

"Not well. I'm pretty sure Kollen's right about the first line's meaning, but I'm not convinced about the second line translating to 'North'."

"Why not? I mean, to know where North is, they'd have to have compass technology. That's quite advanced, isn't it?" Jack argued.

"Yes, but look." Sam pulled out a compass, and set it on the table.

"Woah! What's up with that thing?!" Jack exclaimed.

The compass needle was swinging from one pole to the other, round and round steadily, never settling anywhere.

"This is the compass from the '302. As you can see, it doesn't work. I'm guessing it's something to do with the electro-magnetic field."

"So . . . no North."

"Well, there must be a North, we just don't know where it is."

Comprehension hit Jack like a brick.

"_Where North is revealed_ – the location isn't actually North, it's where you can figure out where North is."

Sam nodded. "That's what I thought, but Kollen says there isn't a big arrow pointing North at any point on the 12 nik circle, and I can't figure out how else it could be 'revealed' without some sort of magnetic test."

Jack mulled this over in his head while he chewed on a piece of meat, Sam watching him hopefully.

"I got nothing." He said at last.

Sam sighed. "Yeah, me neither."

Jack swallowed hastily. "Was Nassem helping you?" He asked.

Sam frowned. "No, I haven't seen him. Why?"

"He's not here again."

"Maybe he's sick."

Jack stared at Nassem's empty seat darkly. "Yeah, maybe."

Sam caught his expression and laid a hand on his arm. "Jack, don't worry about it, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation. He's not Tomah."

Jack's gaze darted back to her, a shadow of emotion crossing his face as he remembered what Tomah had nearly cost him.

"Let's hope not."

* * *

That night, Sam lay awake, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep, there was too much running through her head. 

They'd been there six months now. That was a long time. But was it long enough? What if they found the lab, and in it found a ready-made way to get home, only to face court martial?

_Stop it._ Sam admonished herself. _These are exceptional circumstances. They won't court martial you._

She turned the riddle over and over in her head, but whichever way she looked at it, she couldn't get past the problem of the wild compass needle, spinning and spinning . . .

Jack stirred, rolling towards her before settling down again, one arm draped over her stomach. She looked down at it and sighed.

_Problem number two._

She couldn't say it was unexpected. It was inevitable, really; they both knew that. But suddenly the realisation that she was going to have a baby – _their baby_ – on an alien and relatively primitive world, was scaring her more than facing a whole army of really angry jaffa.

She looked at Jack's face, hidden in the mask of sleep, and sighed, one thumb stroking the arm that now lay across her stomach absently. She hadn't told him yet; quite why she wasn't sure. She told herself it was the riddle – that there was too much else happening, but that was crap and she knew it.

_Cowardice, that's what it is_, she thought scornfully. _And Sam Carter is NOT a coward._

Summoning her resolve, she laid a hand on Jack's shoulder and shook him gently.

"Jack. Jack, wake up."

"What?" Jack groaned, burying his face in her neck.

Sam took a deep breath.

"Jack, I have to tell you something."

* * *

_The next chapter is partially written in my notebook already, so hopefully I'll get that finished soon and post it pronto. Thank you for your patience, and please keep reading and reviewing. I so so so appreciate feedback and support from you lovely lovely people!_

_ Beka _


	28. Chapter 28

**_Lost - part 28_**

_Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's the next little nugget. Enjoy! _

* * *

Jack stared at her blankly in shock. "We're . . . what?" 

Sam took a deep breath. "We're having a baby."

Another minute of silence passed as Jack's sleep-fogged brain tried to wrap itself round this information.

Sam waited, her heart beating painfully in her throat.

Slowly, a grin stole across Jack's face, and he flipped her over, looking down at her gleefully, not quite daring to believe it.

Not daring to believe he's been given a second chance.

"Really?"

Sam grinned right back at him. "Really."

And then he laughed, a loud, joyful laugh that was so rarely heard and yet so treasured by Sam, hugging her and rolling them over, Sam laughing with him.

* * *

Sam was sitting in the bunker with Johann, helping him to repair one of the radios that the hunters had carelessly dropped during a kill. 

Suddenly, she stopped. She stood up, and quickly left, not even aware of Johann calling after her.

She burst into Kollen's library breathlessly. "What if there's a pole?" She asked, as a startled Kollen looked up from a book. "What if the electro-magnetic field has a pole, where the compass is no longer affected by magnetic interference? It could be on the circumference of the twelve nik circle!"

Kollen shook his head, as though to clear cobwebs. "Samantha, slow down, I can't understand you."

Sam sat down opposite him, leaning forwards and forcing herself to go slower. "We don't know where the Northern pole of the planet is, because the compass I showed you isn't working."

"Because of the magnetic field, yes." Kollen nodded.

"Yes. Now, the electro-magnetic field itself must have a pole, and at that exact spot, the field would no longer affect the compass."

"So you could tell which direction was North." Kollen finished.

Sam nodded excitedly. "Exactly."

"And you think this . . . _pole_, may be on the 12 nik circle."

She smiled. "I do."

Kollen leaned back in his chair and regarded her carefully. "So how would we find it?"

"Well, if I'm right, it should be a simple matter of walking the edge of the circle with the compass, until we get to a spot where the compass needle can get a clear lock on North."

Kollen nodded, and stood. "I will assemble the council."

"Why?" Sam frowned in confusion.

"To decide how we should proceed once the laboratory has been found." Kollen said offhand, as he walked the short distance to the council chamber, Sam following close behind.

He entered, and nodded to Makeen who already sat at the long table, writing up minutes of the most recent meeting. He picked up the radio and selected the channel for Nassem, before pressing the talk button. "Nassem, this is Kollen, could you come to the council chamber immediately please?"

The three of them waited, but no reply came.

Kollen repeated the call, but still only silence returned to them. Kollen shook his head. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this, Samantha, this is the third time in a week that Nassem's radio has malfunctioned."

Sam frowned and studied the council chamber radio. "Malfunctioned?"

"He has not replied to my calls, and when I ask he insists that his radio was on constantly and he did not receive any transmissions."

Sam looked to Kollen, still frowning. "Councillor, are you certain you've been selecting the right frequency?"

Kollen nodded insistently. "Yes, yes, of course."

"Where is he now?" She asked.

Kollen thought for a moment. "I am not certain. He has been . . . elusive, of late."

Sam stored that nugget of information away to talk to Jack about later, then moved on. "In his absence then, can I have your permission to at least look for the lab. If I find it, I'll report to the council before proceeding." She assured the two men.

"Kollen, I'm not sure we should make decisions without a full council present." Makeen protested.

Kollen waved his concerns away. "Samantha is right, Makeen. It will do no harm to locate the lab. And besides, we still have half of the riddle to solve: _Light meets light, and old wounds heal_. She may only find the next clue at this point on the circle, not the lab itself."

Makeen looked uneasy, but nodded. Kollen turned to Sam. "You may proceed."

* * *

_What did you think? Please review and let me know! (Sorry its so short) _

_Beka :-P _


	29. Chapter 29

**_Lost - part 29_**

_Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all you lovely lovely people who have reviewed this story. I really am so grateful for the support and the feedback, so bless you for it. I hope you enjoy this next chapter (I certainly enjoyed writing it!)._****

* * *

"You didn't need to do this, Jack." Sam said for the third time since they'd left their home.

"For the millionth time, Sam, there is no way in hell I am allowing my pregnant wife to wonder around in these woods with her eyes glued to a compass without some sort of backup."

Sam scowled at him, and opened her mouth to say she could take care of herself.

Jack cut her off. "Before you say it, you know full well I would have had either me or Teal'c go with you had the situation arisen while we were on SG-1. And it's not because it's you – I would have done the same if it were Jonas with his nose stuck to a doodad."

Sam let it go, but not without glaring at him once more for good measure.

"Anything yet?" Jack asked after a while.

"Nope."

They were walking the twelve nik circle, carefully drawn out on a map by Kollen. To ensure they were keeping to the path, Sam had modified the distance calculator in the radio, resetting it to measure distance from a signal amplifier set up at the exact point of the 'Elf Gate', rather than the bunker.

They were now passing the two-thirds mark on the circle, walking slowly so as to allow the compass time to right itself should the electro-magnetic interference clear at any point.

Jack was getting antsy.

"How about now?"

"Jack, please. If I get something, I'll tell you."

They fell into a grumpy silence, both aching for a result.

The compass needle just kept swinging, back and forth, round and round the face of the compass. Then, mercifully, it stopped, and instead swung back and forth over the left hand side, zeroing in on a single direction.

"Yes! I think this is it!" Sam exclaimed, stopping and turning to face Jack. He peered at the compass she was holding, and then looked past her over her shoulder.

"So_that's_ North. Huh."

Sam rolled her eyes, and span slowly on the spot, scanning the immediate area.

"I don't see a lab." Jack said after a minute.

Sam shook her head. "Me neither. But we've still got the other half of the riddle to solve. _Light meets light, and old wounds heal_. What does it mean?"

Jack raised his eyebrows at her. "You're asking _me_?"

"Well, so far, I got nothing." Sam admitted, dropping the compass into her carry-bag. "We should mark this spot with something, so we can find it again without the compass."

Jack grabbed a branch that had fallen from a nearby tree and started to dig a hole with it. He motioned for Sam to wait when she asked him what he was doing. Once the hole was deep enough to provide sufficient anchorage, he stuck the long branch upright in the hole. Realising what he was doing, Sam helped him to bury the base of the branch securely, and lastly, Jack pulled out a handkerchief and tied it to the top of the branch like a flag.

Sam smirked. "Nice touch." They shared a fond smile.

"So, what now?" Jack asked, rocking on the balls of his feet.

"I don't know. I must admit, I was hoping there'd be something here to help with the rest of the riddle."

"Instead of just . . . dirt and trees." Jack finished, gesturing around them with his bow.

"Yeah."

After another thoughtful pause, Jack said again, "So, what now?"

Sam sighed. "I guess we'll have to go back. Maybe I'm missing something with the riddle."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, Sam. You always do."

Sam smiled at him. "I hope so."

* * *

In the wayward pair's bed that night, Sam tossed and turned endlessly. Once again, she found herself unable to sleep, this time because of the fruitless afternoon she'd spent tucked away in Kollen's library, mulling over the last two lines of the riddle. 

Sometimes, the answer felt so close she could almost touch it – and then it fled, and she was left to pound her fists in frustration. _I need more information_, she thought helplessly. _What does it mean by 'light'?_

Eventually abandoning sleep, she slipped out of bed, mindful not to wake Jack, and got dressed. She almost made it out the door before a voice broke the silence of the night.

"Sam, where the hell do you think you're going?" Jack asked conversationally, sounding perfectly awake with a calm, measured voice.

Sam sagged in defeat. "I can't sleep. I thought I'd go and check out the flag again."

"Alone. At night. With no back up." Jack added, getting up.

"There's nothing out there, Jack. I'd have been perfectly okay."

"Nothing out there? So the hunters catch what, exactly? Sweet succulent joints of tree?"

Sam opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. "Sorry." She apologised quietly.

Jack sighed. "Well, we're both up now. Why don't I come with?"

Sam grinned at him. "Okay."

* * *

"I don't remember it being this far away." Jack grouched. 

"We'd have been there by now if you didn't keep stopping us."

"To check out the area."

"In case you've forgotten, _sweetheart_, I'm a Major in the US airforce and I can take care of myself. There is absolutely no reason why I can't 'check out the area' with –"

She stopped mid sentence.

"What's that?" Jack whispered.

"I don't know." Sam whispered back. Something was glowing at the base of a tree, brightly in the pitch black of the night in the woods. They jogged towards it, stopping in the area they'd marked that morning.

"Here's the flag." Jack said, tapping the upturned branch.

"And here's a light . . ." Sam said thoughtfully, kneeling down at the foot of the tree and clearing away some leaves.

"Hey! What are you doing???" Jack demanded, pulling Sam up and away from the tree.

"Taking a look at the light source."

"_I'll_ do that, if you don't mind." Jack knelt down awkwardly in her place, while Sam huffed and rolled her eyes at his over-protectiveness.

The leaves cleared away, Jack held up a hand to shield his eyes from the light, trying to get a good look at the device.

"Here." Sam leaned over his shoulder with a torch.

"Thanks." Jack took it, and flicked it on, simultaneously shielding his eyes from the bright light of the device and shining a torch on it to get a look at where it was coming from.

And as the rings of a Goa'uld transporter swept up from the ground and surrounded them, Sam finally understood the third line of the riddle.

* * *

_So, tell me, what do you think? I love hearing your thoughts on the story, and speculations about what's going to happen, so please review!_

_ Beka _


	30. Chapter 30

**_Lost - part 30_**

_Oh my. 30 chapters. Has it really been going this long? _

* * *

"Holy –" Jack exclaimed as the rings released them, rising back to their home in the dark woodlands above. 

He and Sam both did a quick visual sweep of the room. "It's clear." Sam said, wishing she had her old P-90 to brandish rather than just Jack's bow and arrows.

Secure in the knowledge that they were okay – for the moment – Jack turned his attention to his wife.

"You okay?" He asked. Sam nodded distractedly, her attention completely drawn by the strange room they now found themselves in.

"This must be the lab . . ." She muttered, walking around, taking in the strange workstations and machines in the vast square room.

"Yeah, I figured." Jack replied. "I have a question. How did we activate those rings? I hadn't even touched that damn light yet."

Sam turned to him, smiling. "Simple. _Light meets light_. The light from the torch met the light from the device. That was the trigger."

Jack's eyebrows raised. "It was daylight when we went there last. How come the sunlight doesn't activate it?"

Sam frowned. "I guess it has to be more directed than just sunlight. I mean, just look at this stuff." She waved her arms to encompass the room. "There's no reason to believe that a race this advanced wouldn't be able to create a device that can recognise directed light in comparison to sunlight or glancing reflections."

"So . . . you don't think the Goa'uld built this place."

"No. This definitely isn't Goa'uld technology."

Jack pointed at the ceiling. "Rings?"

"The Ancients built the rings, Jack. The Goa'uld just ripped them off, along with the Stargates."

"So . . . an Ancient lab."

Sam grinned. "Maybe."

"Sweet."

Sam approached one of the workstations, peering at the control interface and looking for the source of its power.

"You think you can figure this stuff out?" Jack asked. Sam didn't answer.

"Hey. Sam!"

"Huh?" Sam pulled her attention back to Jack.

"Do you think you can figure this stuff out?" Jack repeated slowly.

"I don't know." She frowned. "If this _is_ Ancient technology . . . it's likely to be unbelievably complicated. Maybe with time."

"Okay. Question number two: where's the exit?"

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it, realising she didn't have the answer. "You don't see anything that might control the rings, do you?" She asked hopefully.

"I don't know, Sam. Am I looking for a control panel or should I start shining the torch at the light fittings?" Jack asked sarcastically.

She ignored him and starting hunting for something, anything, that might help them get out.

After thirty minutes, they'd found nothing. Sam sat down heavily on a bench, and frowned as she looked round the room.

"This doesn't make any sense. There _must_ be a way out."

"Well there aren't any hidden passages or trapdoors. I checked." Jack told her. He watched with concern as she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.

"Hey, did you sleep at all before this little midnight excursion?" He asked, walking towards her. She shook her head.

"No."

"Well I don't think we're getting outta here tonight. You should try and sleep."

"Jack, we're trapped in an underground lab. I can't just go to sleep."

"You can and you have to. This isn't just your own health you're responsible for now." He reminded her.

Sam closed her eyes and thought for a minute. "If we were standing in the right place, then someone activating the rings topside would get us back up there."

"Except we have the only the torch on the planet." Jack pointed out, waving it. "And they're not likely to figure out that they need one, anyway."

She scowled at him. "You never know. And I just meant, if we're going to sleep, maybe we should sleep in the area the rings came down in. In case we get lucky."

Jack nodded. "Okay. But I'm not sleeping. I'm keeping watch."

"In case we get attacked by the evil workbenches." Sam asked sarcastically.

Jack smirked. "You know, pregnancy's making you really snarky."

He was met with a death glare, and raised his hands in surrender. "I said nothing!"

He sat down in the rings area, and patted the ground beside him for Sam. Reluctantly, she settled down beside him, using his leg as a pillow.

Jack sighed. _It's gonna be a long night. _

* * *

_ Please please please review. It would be the icing on the cake of my wonderful day (I have a house!!!)_

_ Beka  
_


	31. Chapter 31

**_Lost - part 31_**

_Sorry for the long wait. Hopefully you'll like this chapter enough that it will be worth it! (crosses fingers) ;-)  
_

* * *

On this occasion, Jack was sorry to be proven correct. It was an unbelievably long night. 

After four hours of sitting still, Sam sleeping with her head on his thigh, he couldn't stand it any longer. He _had_ to stretch his legs. Carefully, he eased the carry bag under her head in the place of his leg, mindful not to wake her. She was short tempered enough these days without adding sleep deprivation to her system.

Groaning silently, he stood, massaging his knees as if that would ease out the inevitable pain. He walked around, looking again for anything that might be the on switch for the rings, and easing his stiff aching muscles.

Once again, he failed to find anything. If it hadn't been for the fact that the rings had worked to bring them down, and the annoying fluorescent lights embedded in the ceiling, he would have thought the lab was dead, devoid of power. He looked at Sam's sleeping form, a worried frown creasing his forehead. They had to figure a way out of here.

The prospects didn't look good. No food, no water, and no hope for escape. Whatever Sam said about getting lucky, there was no way the folks upstairs were going to figure it out the way she had done and be able to activate the rings. They didn't even know they were down here, much less how ring transports worked. And in her condition, it wouldn't be long before Sam felt the effects of their lack of food.

He sighed and sank into the chair fixed into the floor at one end of the lab, intending to catch some sleep himself.

The lab, however had other plans.

As soon as his weight had settled in the throne-like chair, everything in the lab came to life with a hum, including the chair, which he hastily leapt out of as it took on an eerie blue glow. All of the workstations had lit up, and on several screens lines of text written in Ancient flowed from top to bottom, and right to left.

Shaking himself out of his shocked reverie, he quickly crossed the room to where Sam was sleeping and shook her shoulder.

"Sam. Sam, wake up."

She opened her eyes reluctantly, squinting at the bright light. "What?"

"The lab just turned on." He told her.

"Huh?" She frowned at him as she sat up slowly.

"I sat down and everything just . . . turned on." He said, waving at the whole room with a sweeping gesture.

"What did you touch?"

"Nothing!" He pulled her to her feet. "All I did was sit down in that chair." He pointed at the glowing blue chair at the other end of the room. Sam approached it cautiously.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"I sat down in it, and it, along with everything else, lit up, and hummed like a computer powering up."

Sam frowned, and circled the chair, before looking critically at Jack. Feeling a little like one of her experiments from the way she was looking at him, Jack squirmed.

"What?"

"I sat on that chair earlier and it didn't do anything. Why did it work for you?"

"I don't know." Jack said defensively.

She frowned at him, trying to puzzle it out.

"This is an Ancient lab . . ." She said after a while.

"Yeah." Jack replied when she seemed to be waiting for him to answer.

"Maybe there's something about you that it responds to."

Jack looked down at himself as though he might see whatever it was she was talking about. "I'm nothing special."

"But you are!" Sam said, warming to her topic. "You had the Ancients' knowledge downloaded into your brain. Maybe that . . . left a marker, or something."

"Like you and Jolinar?" Jack asked sceptically.

Sam shrugged. "I'm just guessing here, but we can't rule out the possibility." She turned her scrutiny to the room, which was now full of activated screens and humming devices.

"Maybe now we'll have more luck getting out of here." She said. "Do you see anything that wasn't here before?"

"Nope. It's all just glowy-er than earlier."

Sam smirked at him. "_Glowy-er_? Are you sure that's a word?"

He resisted the temptation to stick his tongue out at her, and had a look at one of the display screens. And then froze.

_Oh dear_.

"Ah . . . Sam?" He called cautiously. "Could you come over here a second?"

Obediently she came over. "What is it?"

"I think we have a problem."

She looked at him to see what specifically he was looking at, and was astonished to see his gaze fixed on the lines of alien text running across the screen.

"Jack, are you . . . can you _read_ that?" She asked incredulously.

He gave her a confused look. "Of course I can, it's in Ancient."

"Since when do you . . . ah! The time loop!" She said, chuckling at his grimace of remembrance. "What does it say?"

"I'm a little rusty, but I _think_ it's a communications console of some kind. It's sending out a distress call, or something . . . I don't know. Wait . . ." He told her, frowning as he tried to make out the message. "I wish this damn thing would stay still." He muttered irritably, as the writing sped from right to left across the display not quite giving him enough time to decipher it.

Sam watched him, waiting patiently for him to elaborate.

"It's definitely calling someone." He said eventually. "But I don't know who. I don't think it's a message so much as a signal of some kind." Sam shifted nervously.

"How long has it been doing it?" She asked. If it had been centuries, maybe they were okay, as if it was going to be picked up by the Goa'uld it would have been by now. But if it was just since Jack sat in that chair . . .

"It's . . . no, this can't be right." Jack frowned at it, looking at his wrist where his watch would be out of habit, although it had been broken in the 302 crash.

"Jack." Sam prompted, when he didn't explain himself.

"It says it's been sending the signal for over three weeks."

Sam gaped at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah . . . believe me, time periods is one aspect of Ancient that is firmly embedded in my brain." He told her, shuddering as he remembered the weeks of endless deciphering he and Teal'c had been forced to undertake on that wretched time machine.

"But why three weeks? I mean what are the chances that this lab lies dormant for centuries and then suddenly, three weeks before we find it, it starts broadcasting . . . oh. Huh." She gave a strained smile.

Jack frowned at her, confused. "What?"

She turned her attention to the display again. "Is there anyway to find out _who_ activated it?" She asked.

"You think someone else has been down here?" Jack asked incredulously. At her even gaze he sighed and scanned the screen once more.

"No, I can't see anything like that." He said after a while.

Sam shrugged. "It was a long shot."

"What was? Sam, what are you thinking?" Jack asked.

She turned to him, a measured expression on her face. "Who do we know who's privy to Kollen's research on the riddle, and has been mysteriously absent a lot recently?"

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it, frowning. "No way."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "You don't think so?"

"There's no way Nassem figures out how to find the lab without your compass, manages to find and activate the rings, turns on all the stuff in here _and_ gets out again all on his own. I don't buy it."

"I admit it's a little far-fetched, but I can't figure out how else the sub-space broadcast could have been turned on."

"Co-incidence?" Jack offered.

Sam pulled a face. "It just doesn't sit right with me."

Jack sighed and sat down. "Well it's all academic if we don't get out of here, isn't it."

Sam nodded, and pulled him back up again. "Come on, let's keep looking."

* * *

_Ta-da! Okay, there are some timeline issues I feel I should clarify with this one. It's set mid season 6-ish, so they don't yet know that Jack has the Ancient gene, or that you need to have it to work Ancient technology. That's why Sam assumes it was his experience with the head-grabber of Season 2's _The Fifth Race._ I hope it didn't confuse or annoy anyone. I'm also assuming that Jack remembers the Ancient he had to learn in Season 4's _Window of Opportunity. 

_Hope you enjoyed it!_

_ Beka :-P _


	32. Chapter 32

**_Lost - part 32_**

_Sorry for the wait, here's chapter 32. Hope you like it! _

* * *

"This is ridiculous. Why build a lab with no exit?" Jack asked, exasperated after another two hours of fruitless searching. 

"It'll be here somewhere. We just need to keep looking." Sam insisted.

"We've been over this place inch by inch twice!" He hit the control panel he was currently looking at angrily.

The rings activated.

Sam and Jack span round, instantly alert, as the rings rushed down from the ceiling. Jack had just managed to think: _I did it!_, when the rings deposited a man in the lab. _Then again, maybe not, _he thought. The man jumped backwards in shock as he saw the other two occupants of the room, gaping at them in horror.

"Nassem!" Jack bellowed, pushing the man backwards into the wall and pinning him with a fist of his jacket. "What did you do?!"

Nassem looked terrified for a second, before his trade-mark politician's sneer fell into place.

"Excuse me?"

"How did you get down here?" Sam demanded.

His gaze flicked to her for a second. "I could ask you the same question. I don't remember the council authorising you to enter the lab, or you even _notifying_ us that you'd found it."

"How long have you known where it was?" Jack asked angrily.

"That is not your concern."

"If you've done what I think you've done then I think it _is_ our concern." Sam retorted, equally angrily.

A flicker of panic crossed Nassem's face, before he once again schooled his expression. Jack and Sam, however, had caught it and pounced.

"It was you." Sam stated.

"For crying out loud, you don't just come into an extremely advanced lab and start messing around with things you can't hope to understand!" Jack said, reluctantly letting go of Nassem when Sam tugged his arm gently.

"I was working for the good of Amdra." Nassem said calmly.

"You've put Amdra and every other village on this planet in danger." Sam told him.

"I was working to correct the problem."

"Do you even know what the problem is?" Jack asked.

"The hologram spoke our language and was able to explain it to me."

Sam and Jack exchanged surprised looks. "Hologram?"

"Yes, the man. He appeared after I turned on the subspace signal."

Sam blinked at Nassem's casual use of the words 'subspace signal'. "What did he say?"

"He answered many, though not all, of my questions. His programming is limited, apparently." He looked to the chair. "You sat there, yes?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. It worked for you to?"

"Of course, but each time I have returned here since my initial visit, the hologram has activated after I sat in the throne." He moved to sit there again, but Jack stopped him with a hand.

"Ack! Oh no you don't. We're not finished yet."

"You've been here more than once." Sam checked.

Nassem nodded. "Every day since I accidentally turned the signal on. I have been back each day to try and turn it off."

"So you have a way out of here?"

Nassem looked uneasy. "I do."

"How?"

He hesitated, but after taking a good look at the determined, annoyed looks on his companions faces, reluctantly pulled back his sleeve to reveal a device wrapped around his wrist like a wristwatch, only much larger and decidedly alien.

"Where did you get that?" Jack asked.

"I . . . found it." Nassem answered evasively.

"This controls the rings?" Sam checked.

"Yes."

"So that's how you got down here." She said, thinking out loud. "You had the riddle too, you could have figured out the first two lines, same as we did. Then it was just a matter of walking the circle and trying that device every few metres."

Nassem nodded.

"So where did you get it?" Jack asked again.

At Nassem's silence, Jack took a step towards him menacingly. "I won't ask again."

"There was another section of the text, in addition to what Kollen has. I found it before he'd read through all of the material. When I realised that it was not like the others, that it was written in a diary of sorts, I took that paper and studied it until I understood that it spoke of a device used to remotely activate the rings. From the writings in the diary, I understood that when he left, the alien Rokezar had intended to leave it within the lab, so that it could be used to get out once our people had advanced sufficiently to find it in the first place. However, it also mentioned a locker hidden in the ground in the woods, where the device was kept while he was using it. I went there, and discovered the device."

"Why didn't Rokezar leave it in the lab as planned?" Sam asked.

Jack glanced a her impatiently. "More importantly – why didn't you tell anyone about all this?"

Nassem shifted uncomfortably. "I believed I could turn off the signal alone."

"You were afraid to admit you'd screwed up."

Nassem met Jack's gaze. "I was wrong."

"Yes. You were. And I guess you didn't tell anyone that you knew how to get in the lab because you wanted the contents for yourself." Jack said, looking disgusted.

"I am not a fool. I know that our people are not ready technologically to reap the benefits, and that exposure to this technology could be dangerous. I was trying to protect them from themselves."

"And what made you qualified to come and mess around with the technology?" Sam asked. "You set off a subspace signal! Now I don't know how strong it is, but if it can get out into space, eventually someone's going to hear it, and most of the ships out there belong to the Goa'uld."

"Can you turn it off?" Nassem asked.

Sam grimaced and glanced at the controls. "Maybe. But I'm going to need to see that hologram." She glanced at Jack. "I might need your help as well." He nodded.

"Should I attempt to summon the hologram?" Nassem asked.

Jack glowered at him. "I'm thinking we need to go have a chat with your fellow council members first."

"Jack, I agree you should take him to the council, but I should stay here and work. The sooner we shut that transmitter off the better."

"Sam – "

"Look, I know what you're going to say, but I'm fine. I slept. I admit I could do with something to eat, but that's all." They'd found the 'facilities' during the night. "You can bring me some food while the council are talking."

Jack sighed. As a husband, he wanted to drag her out of there, even if it was kicking and screaming, and get her to rest. But strategically, he knew every second that transmitter was on the danger grew.

"Fine. Nassem, get the hologram running."

Nassem jogged to the chair, and sat down. As it was already active, nothing happened. He shrugged at them.

"I don't know . . . "

"Try thinking about the hologram specifically." Jack said. A second later he looked a little surprised that he'd said it. Sam raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged helplessly. "Gut feeling." He explained.

Nassem closed his eyes and concentrated.

The hologram appeared with its back to them, facing the wall inches from it's face.

"What do you require?" It asked in a soft voice.

Sam grinned. "Thanks Nassem. I've got it from here."

Jack shook his head. "Wait a second. Why isn't it facing us?"

Nassem blinked. "I don't know. It's always appeared the other way round before."

Sam frowned at it. "Hang on. Jack, does the back of that head look . . . familiar?"

Jack approached it, looking at the head in question. "Yes. It does." He cocked his head. "And so does that jumper." He added in a whisper.

He raised an eyebrow at Sam. Then looked back at the hologram, which was still facing the wall, but had acquired a curious tension in its shoulders that hadn't been there before.

Jack cleared his throat. "Long time no see, Daniel."

* * *

_Dun-dun-duuuun! So . . . I figured a way to get Daniel in it! What do you think? (Btw, this is set in Season 6, so Daniel's currently ascended)_

_ Please please please review! I really appreciate hearing all your __comments__opionions/suggestions/random thoughts . . . Go on, just push the pretty little button and type!_

_Beka :-P  
_


	33. Chapter 33

**_Lost - part 33_**

_Happy Valentines Day! My boyfriend just got me a dozen roses, chocolate, and is cooking me dinner, so I'm currently on cloud 9. Tum tee tum._

_Make me even happier by pressing that nice little 'review' button at the bottom! Enjoy! _

* * *

  
Slowly, oh-so slowly, Daniel turned round. Sam gasped. _It really is him._

Jack just raised an eyebrow, Teal'c-style. "Moonlighting as a hologram are we? Not sure the folks upstairs will be too happy with that."

Daniel grimaced. "Hi guys."

"You . . . you know . . . him - it?" Nassem spluttered.

"He's not a hologram, he's a dead friend of ours." Jack explained. If anything, Nassem looked even more horrified at this revelation.

"It's really you?" Sam asked her old friend uncertainly.

Daniel smiled kindly at her. "Yes, Sam, it's me."

She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

"So, to what do we owe the honour this time?" Jack asked him.

"_This time_?" Sam asked, rounding on Jack, who suddenly looked uneasy.

"I appeared to him when he was a prisoner in Ba'al's fortress." Daniel explained.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Sam demanded of her husband.

Jack squirmed. "I wasn't sure it really had happened. Or that you'd believe me."

"You still should have t – "

"Ah, guys?" Daniel cut in. They turned their attention back to him.

"Right. So what are you doing here this time?" Jack asked again.

"I was trying to get Nassem to ask for Sam's help in turning off the signal."

"Why didn't you just tell him how to turn it off?" Jack asked.

Daniel winced. "Jack, you know, that whole 'interfering' thing . . ."

"So you can't tell me how to turn it off?" Sam surmised.

"No."

"Why is this not interfering?" She asked.

"Well, I haven't really done anything. I mean, you found the lab on your own, nothing I did affected that. I just got lucky."

"So what would have happened if you had been directly responsible for getting us here, through Nassem?" Sam asked.

Daniel gave a strained smile. "Let's just say I'm glad I didn't have to find out."

Sam was frowning.

"What?" Jack prodded her.

She fixed Daniel with a calculating gaze. "You're . . . you know a lot, about what's going on out there. You can see what's happening, where people are, where _ships_ are . . ." she trailed off.

Daniel frowned.

"You wouldn't have come down here and risked angering the others unless we were really in danger." She continued.

Jack nodded his head. "She's right. Who's out there? Have they picked up the signal yet?"

Daniel looked strained. "Not yet."

"But she's right, there is a . . . a goa'uld, out there?" Nassem asked, alarmed.

Sam looked between them anxiously. "Daniel, I'm not that familiar with Ancient technology. I don't even know for sure why it works for Jack and Nassem and not me."

"They have a gene in common with the Ancients, but you don't. Actually, very few people on Earth do."

Jack blinked. "Cool."

"You're allowed to tell us that?" Sam asked, confused.

"It's . . . complicated." Daniel said, fully aware of how irritated his old friends were getting at his 'walking the line, not crossing it' routine.

"Can you tell us how much time we have?" Sam asked.

"No."

"How about who's out there?" Jack tried.

"Nirrti."

A stunned silence followed.

"We really don't want her finding this place." Sam mused. She looked at Daniel sharply.

"That's the other reason you're here, isn't it? It's not only us you're worried about, it's what Nirrti could do with this lab."

Daniel inclined his head. "It would be . . . bad, if Nirrti had these resources at her disposal."

"What with her penchant for gruesome science projects." Jack added.

"I'm sorry, who is this _Nirrti_?" Nassem, asked frustrated with the way these people were talking round in circles about people and things he'd never heard of.

"A goa'uld. A bad one." Sam told him.

"Worse than Lord Nefru?"

"Much worse." Jack assured him. "So much as we'd love to stay and chat, we need to get this show on the road. Sam, Daniel, do your thing. 'Ole Nass and I are going to go brief the council." Nassem grimaced.

"Jack." Daniel called after him. Jack turned.

"Don't forget that Sam can't get out and has no way of contacting you."

"She's got you! You can play messenger, can't you?"

Daniel squirmed. "I . . . Jack, it's . . ."

Jack sighed and nodded. "I'll be back soon with food." He told Sam, squeezing her arm lightly.

She smiled and nodded, and watched as they were ringed up to the surface, leaving her alone with the man she used to love like a brother.

* * *

_Hope you liked it. I haven't written for Daniel in a while, so please forgive and feel free to make comments/suggestions/criticisms if I haven't got him quite 'in character'._

_Beka :-)_


	34. Chapter 34

_**Lost - part 34**_

_Hey guys! Here's chapter 34. A big big thank you to everyone who's reviewed! Love you all! ;-) _

* * *

Jack rapped sharply on Kollen's front door, making sure to keep Nassem in his line of sight, just in case the errant council member decided to make a run for it. After a minute, the door opened. Kollen squinted at them in the dawn sunlight as he emerged, a book carefully held in his left hand.

"Jack, Nassem, what can I do for you?" He asked, a yawn cutting off the end of the sentence.

"I'm sorry to come by so early, Kollen, but we need an emergency council meeting. Now." Jack told him.

Kollen looked curiously at Nassem, who was looking sheepish and remaining uncharacteristically silent.

"What has happened?" He asked, glancing between the two men.

"We'll explain in the council chamber. We'll leave you to get dressed and go give Makeen a wake up call." Without another word, Jack left, pulling a scowling Nassem after him.

* * *

"So . . . you and Jack." Daniel smiled at Sam teasingly. "Congratulations on the baby by the way."

Sam smiled shyly back. "Thanks."

"I'd give you a hug but . . ." he waved an arm through the workbench next to him in demonstration.

"I know." Sam nodded, wishing it wasn't true so that she could touch him, feel that he was really there.

"We should get started." Daniel said.

"Except by 'we', you mean just me." Sam said, feeling a little frustrated.

"Right." Daniel nodded, looking apologetic.

Sam walked over to the communications console Jack had found. "I'm guessing I start here?" She asked.

Daniel, unsure of his footing with regards to how much it was safe to give away, smiled at her and hoped she'd take that as a yes.

Turning back the console, Sam looked it over thoroughly, searching for a power source. She pulled a panel off of the base of it, exposing a series of clear crystals in its glowing interior.

She settled down to work.

* * *

"I . . . I am lost for words." Kollen said, shocked. He and Makeen sat on one side of the council table, while Jack sat with Nassem on the other. Jack had just filled the two men in on his and Sam's findings in the lab, and Nassem's actions. He'd left out the part about Daniel, thinking that the revelation about the impending threat of Nirrti detecting them was enough without adding ascended friends and Ancients with non-interference laws to the mix.

"You have put us all in grave danger." Makeen said to Nassem, speaking slowly, his voice thick with disbelief.

"I left Sam down there." Jack told them. "She's working on getting that signal turned off, but she can't read the alien language, and she needs to eat something." Kollen was already aware that Sam was pregnant.

"Go. Take a radio." Kollen nodded to Jack. Gratefully, Jack got up and left them to it.

Kollen turned back to Nassem. "You have betrayed me. You betrayed all of us."

"I made a mistake, but I was working for a noble cause."

"How dare you!" Kollen bellowed, losing his temper. "You were working for your own gain, and nothing else! You are no better than Tomah, endangering innocent lives!"

Colour rose in Nassem's cheeks as his anger flared. "Tomah was a fool, his actions a result of paranoia and madness! I was trying to protect Amdra!"

"You were protecting yourself!" Makeen spat. "Your lies served no one but you."

"You are discharged from the council, Nassem. You will now return to the lab, where you will tell Samantha _exactly_what you did in there, and then you will return here and await our decision on whether to take further action against you." Kollen told him.

"She does not need me to tell her anything." Nassem argued. "They have their ghost friend for that."

Kollen and Makeen looked at Nassem as though he had gone mad. "Nassem? Explain yourself." Kollen demanded.

"I was not working alone in the lab. A hologram appeared to help me turn off the signal. Only now I have discovered that he was not a hologram at all, but the ghost of a man O'Neill and Samantha were friends with on their home planet. He is down there with Samantha as we speak."

Makeen shook his head in disbelief. "Ghosts do not exist, Nassem."

Nassem looked at him sharply. "Less than a year ago we would not have believed that humans lived beyond the stars, either."

Kollen looked sceptical, and pulled the council chamber's radio towards him. "Jack, are you there?"

There was a brief pause, before Jack answered. "O'Neill here."

"Nassem claims there is a ghost of a man you knew in the lab."

Jack, walking through the woods towards the rings, winced and swore. "Yeah, he's not a ghost. He's . . . look, I'll explain about him later. It's complicated."

Back in the council chamber, Nassem smirked. Kollen and Makeen looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Why did you not mention him earlier?"

"Because it's difficult to explain. I don't even completely understand it myself. Basically, our friend, Daniel, died, and . . . ascended to a higher plane of existence, and he turned up here to try and get Nassem to confess and ask for Sam's help. He's the one who told us about Nirrti. But right now there are more important things to worry about. Like the Goa'uld, for instance." Jack answered irritably.

Kollen rubbed his forehead in an attempt to alleviate the headache forming behind his eyes. "Very well. But we will require an explanation later."

"Fine. O'Neill out."

Kollen fixed Nassem with a cold stare. "My orders have not changed, Nassem. Get Johann, and go to the lab. I will radio Jack shortly to check that you are there."

Nassem glared at him, and left.

* * *

_Hope you liked it. I have finally got a solid plan of how this story is going to reach its end (don't worry, it will be a while yet!)_

_ Please please please review! I really do appreciate it sooooooo much!_

_Beka :-P_

_P.S. Sorry about the wait for chapter 35, the end of term at uni was UNbelieveably crazy, and I'm just now getting down to writing it. I'll hopefully have something up soon.  
_


	35. Chapter 35

_**Lost - part 35**_

_Chapter 35! I'm sorry it took so long, and I hope you like it._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Daniel surveyed the lab from the back of the room. It was crowded; Jack had turned up a little while ago with Johann in tow, and shortly after that Nassem had called them on the radio asking to be admitted. Now Daniel found himself occupying the space furthest away from the troublesome communications machine, out of Sam's way but drawing nervous looks from Nassem and Johann.

Sam was getting frustrated, he could see. She was being crowded by Johann, who was overwhelmed by the technology and wanted Sam to explain how _everything_ worked, under the delusion that he could help if she would only explain what she was doing. She was keeping Jack close by too, for translations of the Ancient text, and Nassem was constantly offering up what he _thought_ he'd done, or _might_ have done, and changing his story every time he spoke. Daniel saw the tension lines gathering on Sam's forehead, and wondered how long it would be before she blew up at the lot of them. Jack clearly sensed that danger too, as he was inching his way towards Daniel, and out of the firing line.

"Johann, would you just let me work?!" Sam yelled, eventually. Jack winced, catching Daniel's eye.

"I'm sorry, sorry, I'll uh . . ." Johann mumbled, backing away. Sam shifted her glare to Nassem. 

"Is there anything else you haven't told me about, Nassem?" 

Nassem shook his head. "No."

"Then would you please get the hell out of my way? In fact, would anyone who doesn't have to be here, leave?" She said, still fired up, with her eyes flashing angrily at them all. Jack cleared his throat.

"Johann, perhaps you could escort Nassem back to the council, and give them a progress report." Jack suggested. The two Amdrans reluctantly entered the ring space, and Jack sent them up.

Sam settled back to work with the device, clearly still in a fowl mood.

"And I thought I was done with moody pregnant women." Jack muttered to Daniel, who gave him a wry grin.

"You've got no one to blame but yourself, Jack." Daniel teased him. 

Jack was about to retort, but stopped when he saw the far-away look on Daniel's face, and his concerned frown.

"Daniel?"

Sam turned to look too, and then got up to join them. "Daniel, what is it?"

Daniel glanced at them nervously, clearly pre-occupied. "Guys, I'll . . . I'll be right back." He said distractedly, and then disappeared in a swirling of bright light.

Sam and Jack's eyes met, eyebrows raised.

"This can't be good."

* * *

"I'm getting nowhere." Sam said tiredly, landing her fist on the framework of the errant machine heavily.

Jack rubbed her back soothingly. "You'll get it. You always do."

"This . . . I have no experience with this! And even if I did, I'm pretty sure there's a failsafe in place to stop me from doing exactly what I'm trying to do."

Jack shook his head, confused. "Why would the Ancients put in a failsafe to stop you de-activating a message to the Goa'uld?"

"Because it's not a message to the Goa'uld, it's a distress call, and it was made by _one_ Ancient, Rokezar, who probably intended it to be used in the event that the Goa'uld were already here and he needed his Ancient buddies to come pick him up!" She said wildly.

"Sam, you're getting a little hysterical. Calm down." 

Sam span round, glaring at him. Jack met her glare calmly, not backing down, and eventually she gave. "Sorry, you're right. I'm just . . ."

"Frustrated. And tired." Jack offered.

"Yeah. Plus . . . it doesn't make sense. What would an Ancient be doing here in this era? They all ascended a millennia ago."

"Maybe this Rokezar wasn't really an Ancient. Or maybe he was a time-traveller."

Sam sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Maybe. I just wish I had some answers."

"Or a manual." Jack suggested, tapping the device.

"Yeah, a manual would be brilliant." Sam smiled reluctantly. 

"These advanced aliens with their secret stashes of technology should really be more considerate towards the future generations, and leave instruction manuals, don't you think?" Jack groused. Sam chuckled.

At that moment, Daniel came back.

"Daniel, what's happening?" Jack asked, standing up.

"We're out of time." Daniel told them, looking worried. "Nirrti detected the signal. She's on her way."

* * *

Jack paced in front of the council anxiously. "You're not getting it, Kollen. Nirrti is powerful. Very powerful. I'm not sure Amdra is strong enough as a people to stand up to her."

"So what do you suggest? We should give up? Amdra has overthrown a false god once, we can do it again. They can take no place in our hearts."

"I know that you believe that. But no one here has ever seen a real live goa'uld. Nefru . . . Nefru was generations ago, and the goa'uld can do some pretty fancy tricks. I'm trying to get you to understand that she will be able to show you things and do things, that to you, will seem miraculous. You and your people need to be ready for this _and_ you need to be prepared to fight, even against unimaginable power."

The council was silent.

Jack took a deep breath and stood facing them. "We need to rally all the villages together. If you are _all_ adamant that you don't want the Goa'uld to come and play God, you'll need to be ready to fight. And its not going to be pretty."

Makeen shifted uneasily. "I thought that the eclectic-magno-field would protect us."

"Electro-magnetic . . ." Jack started to correct him, then shook his head. "Sam's not sure. She says there's a chance Nirrti may be able to deactivate it. Nirrti's one of the more . . ._ intelligent_ goulds."

Kollen shook his head sadly. "I had hoped we were rid of the Goa'uld for good. And now, due to Nassem's greed and carelessness, they are back, and we must face them again." He stood up, and Makeen joined him.

"I will call a meeting of the village councils. We will be ready to fight."

* * *

_Go on, review! You know you want to! Don't make me beg!_

_Beka :-P_


	36. Chapter 36

_**Lost - part 36**_

_Here's chapter 36! Sorry it took so long, the bonnie hills of Scotland and the beautiful island of Iona kept me away . . . but now I'm back and the next chapter should hopefully be up in the next week or so as well._

* * *

Sam pulled at her fingers nervously, pacing from machine to machine

Sam pulled at her fingers nervously, pacing from machine to machine. She looked at Daniel sharply; he was standing facing away from her, his attention obviously elsewhere.

"There must be something we can do." Sam said at last, frustrated. Daniel didn't respond.

"Daniel!"

He turned to her with a sigh. "There is, but I . . ." he'd never felt so caged, so helpless. He felt like kicking something for the unfairness of it all. "I'm sorry, Sam. You have to find it for yourself. I can't tell you."

Sam whirled to him angrily. "So you're just going to _let_ Nirrti attack, and either kill us, enslave us, or use us for her little science projects? That doesn't sound like the Daniel I know."

Daniel's blue eyes settled on her sadly, tears pricking. "I _wish_ I could help you. But the truth is I'm coming dangerously close to crossing the line as it is. The others . . . they won't let me do any more."

An alarm went off. Sam rushed to it. "It's a proximity alert." She looked at Daniel, who once again appeared to be concentrating, staring at something she couldn't see.

"The electro-magnetic field will stop her from coming down here, right?" Sam asked. No response. She went to stand directly in front of him. "Daniel. She can't land while the field is in place. Is that correct?"

Daniel looked strained. "Sam, I need to go tell Jack that Nirrti is here. If she does find a way down, they need to be ready and prepared for it."

Sam sighed, and nodded in resignation. "Okay, go." He lifted his hand to her shoulder, as if to squeeze it had he been solid, then he was gone and Sam was alone.

She moved around the room, searching for something, anything, that would keep Nirrti from reaching the surface. In theory, she knew that the electro-magnetic field should prevent any ships from breaching the atmosphere of the planet without crashing. However, she also knew that the Goa'uld had been here before, and escaped in a ship, so there was no guarantee that it would or could hold Nirrti off forever.

* * *

"Jack!" Daniel appeared in the council chamber, making the three occupants jump.

"Daniel, would it kill you to enter a room through a door like a normal person?" Jack groused.

"Sorry." Daniel apologized distractedly. "Nirrti has arrived."

Makeen and Kollen visibly flinched. "What do we do?" Makeen asked quietly.

Jack shot a look at Daniel. "How much time do we have?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"It's possible that she won't be able to get through the electro-magnetic field. But, on the other hand, this is Nirrti. We can't underestimate her."

Jack scowled. "Fantastic, Daniel. You've been a great help." He said sarcastically.

"We need to tell the people." Kollen said. "Makeen, call the village together." Makeen hesitated, and then got up and left.

Jack looked back at Daniel to ask a question, but stopped when he saw the look on his old friend's face.

"Oh no." Daniel whispered, with a look of horror that chilled Jack to the bone.

"Daniel?" Daniel looked at Jack.

"The rings. She's using the rings to get down here. Jack . . . . Sam's down there."

And suddenly the look of horror was mirrored in Jack's face. Daniel was gone as suddenly as he'd appeared, and Jack was running, running . . .

* * *

The activation of the rings made Sam jump, and her eyes widened with terror as she saw who was being transported down. She leapt down behind the throne-like Ancient chair as the four armored jaffa released from the rings.

"Jaffa! Shatak! Kree!" One yelled. They fanned out, and one was getting dangerously close to Sam, approaching the Ancient chair.

"Hey guys!" Daniel's voice suddenly called from the other side of the room. The jaffa spun round, their backs now to Sam.

They fired at Daniel, but the blasts traveled straight through his ascended form. Sam saw her chance, and took it. The distracted jaffa didn't notice her rise from behind the chair, and were taken unawares when she skillfully swept one jaffa's legs from under him. There was confusion, as the other three turned on her, and the room was a mass of warring bodies, Daniel's cry of 'Sam! No!' coming too late to stop her from beginning a fight she couldn't win.

Eventually, inevitably, they had her pinned face down to the cold hard floor, one nursing a broken arm and another's face bloody from Sam's brutal right hook. Sam hissed as the jaffa pinning her twisted her arm up around her back.

"Let her go. You don't need her." Daniel pleaded with them. Sam scowled at him from her position on the floor. The jaffa had tried to capture him too, but on finding the task impossible, had let him be.

"The Great and Powerful Nirrti will destroy you, spirit." One jaffa spat at him. "I suggest you leave this place, and never return."

They lifted Sam roughly, and dragged her to the rings, leaving Daniel to watch in anguish as the four jaffa and Sam disappeared.

* * *

_Dunh dunh duuuuuuunh! What did you think? Please review! please please please review! puppy dog eyes!_

_Beka :-P_


	37. Chapter 37

_**Lost - part 37**_

_I have now finished writing Lost!! Aaaaaaa!! I'll put up the final chapters over the course of the next two weeks . . . and even though I've technically finished it I'm still very very very interested in your feedback/criticisms/suggestions etc, so keep those reviews coming! The last chapter is Chapter 40._

* * *

Jack was running. He had no weapons, no radio, nothing to fight with, but he wouldn't need it. He would fight tooth and nail to protect Sam if he must. So on he ran.

Images and memories flashed through his mind. Sam, laughing as they lay in bed together at dawn, Sam, calling his name as they made love. Sam, crying with happiness as they celebrated her pregnancy. Sam, twirling a stray strand of hair round her finger as she worked in the bunker.

Sam, covered in blood after Tomah had shot her.

He ran faster.

* * *

Sam struggled as the jaffa dragged her forward and forced her to kneel. She looked up defiantly at the figure looming above dressed in a golden sari and sneering.

"Major Carter. This is a pleasant surprise."

* * *

"Jack!" Daniel called. The Air Force colonel had reached the rings, where Daniel had waited for him.

"Where's Sam?" Jack demanded.

"They've taken her, she's on Nirrti's ship. Jack you can't go down there." Daniel said, as Jack moved to the light-sensitive control crystal.

"Why the hell not?"

"You'll be trapped! Jack just stop and listen to me! Sam has the ring control device. Without it you'll be trapped in the lab with heavily armed jaffa pouring in from the ship. You can't help her by going down there."

"So what do you suggest, Daniel? I just sit here and _hope_ Nirrti gives her back?" Jack barked.

"I don't know, just . . . just give me some time."

"To do WHAT?" Jack yelled.

"To reason with Nirrti. Just please don't do anything rash and stupid."

Jack paced around like a caged lion. "My wife and child are up there, Daniel."

"I know." Daniel said quietly. "But for the moment, there's nothing you can do. Nirrti can control the rings from the ship, but we have no control down here. Just let me try this my way. Maybe I can make a deal."

Jack looked up sharply, his eyes full of cold determination. "If it comes to it, offer me to Nirrti. Tell her if she lets Sam go she can have me, and I'll come willingly."

Daniel held Jack's gaze, a cold dread creeping through his being. "Wait with the council." He told Jack, then disappeared.

* * *

Sam struggled against the leather straps that bound her to a bed in Nirrti's medical lab. It was useless, she needed a knife, or just something sharp. Daniel had shown up a few minutes previously and told her to hang in there, to which she responded by yelling at him to get her out of there.

They doors creaked open with the trademark ominous groan of all Goa'uld doors. She twisted her head and Nirrti came into her line of sight.

"Your ascended companion wants me to release you." Nirrti told her with cold amusement.

Sam kept her mouth shut. She wasn't giving the snake-head anything to work with.

"However, it seems he has nothing but empty threats to back up his demand, so you will be our guest, Samantha, for as long as you are useful."

Sam closed her eyes and cursed Daniel in her head. _You can stop this Daniel, do something_.

Nirrti stroked a finger over one of her instruments. "Your body has always fascinated me, Samantha. When first my servants told me they had captured you, I thought to make you my host." Sam resisted the urge to shudder as Nirrti's hand traveled up her leg to rest on her stomach,

"But this . . . this is a far greater prize." Her fingers fluttered over Sam's womb. "An unborn child. Such potential." Nirrti's eyes gleamed. A cold fear gripped Sam's heart.

"You touch my baby and I swear to God, I'll kill you." Sam said quietly, her eyes locked on Nirrti's. The Goa'uld smiled cruelly.

"You are in no position to make threats, Major Carter. The child _will_ be mine, and there is nothing you can do about it."

* * *

_What did you think? Again, reviews to me are like magic beans to Jack (as in the beanstalk variety, not the O'Neill variety), so keep 'em coming!_

_Love you all!_

_Beka ;-)_


	38. Chapter 38

_**Lost - part 38**_

_Enjoy! (and review, naturally!)  
_

* * *

Sam awoke with a start, and immediately rolled over and threw up. She coughed and gasped, closing her eyes till the wave of nausea had passed, and slid herself across the cell floor to get away form the stench of her vomit.

She leaned against the cold cell wall with her eyes closed. She felt sick. She felt . . . empty. She lifted a tentative hand to her stomach, and gave an involuntary cry of anguish as she failed to find the subtle bulge that had been her child. Tears leaked from her eyes, a few sobs escaping her.

She jumped as the swirling white light of Daniel's ascended form descended from the ceiling and resolved itself into his body. "Daniel . . ." Sam whispered. He crouched beside her. "Sam, your baby is okay. She's alive."

Sam's eyes widened at Daniel's use of 'she', and she pulled herself up on shaking legs to carefully make her way to the bench. "What is Nirrti doing to her?"

Daniel bowed his head, then looked back at his friend with sorrow. "Nirrti has accelerated her development. At this rate, she'll be a baby, rather than a fetus, in three hours. That's all she's done so far."

"So far." Sam echoed, her voice catching. "Daniel, you have to save her. Please, if you do nothing else, just . . . just get my baby away from Nirrti."

Daniel's eyes filled with tears. "Sam, I . . ."

"No." Sam cut him off. "I don't want to hear that you can't interfere. You _have_ to. This is mine and Jack's _daughter_ we're talking about. You can stop this. _Please_."

She started to cry. She couldn't help it, her fear for her baby was too overwhelming.

Daniel looked away. He couldn't stand it.

"I can stop Nirrti. I can kill her. I can destroy this ship and get you and the baby back to Jack." Daniel said quietly. Sam's eyes widened as she looked at him.

"You can?"

Daniel regarded her carefully. "The others will intervene though. They might stop me before I can help, or they might let me do it and then punish me afterwards. I have no way of knowing for sure."

Sam stared at him. "What will happen to you?"

"I don't know."

There was a painful pause, and then Daniel was gone, leaving Sam sitting there alone, white-faced.

* * *

Jack and the hunters were in a circle surrounding the rings. He had gathered them up quietly, without the council's knowledge, and told them his plan. All had volunteered to help.

Now they advanced on the rings. The plan was to ring down using Jack's torch, take out the jaffa, and then wait for the rings to activate again, at which point they would be standing in the catch zone. They would then be ringed up to the ship, where they could find Sam and skedaddle back out of there.

That was the plan, anyway.

Jack nodded to the rest of his men, and they went to stand in the rings' catch zone. He shone the torch on the activator, and then leapt back to his group in time to be transported down.

At once, the air was thick of zat fire, arrows, and bodies punching, kicking, fighting. Jack's team had a numerical advantage, but the six jaffa who had been waiting were armed with zats, and at close range they couldn't miss. Within a minute all but three jaffa, Jack, and another hunter, Grego, were unconscious. With zats to their heads, Jack and Grego could do nothing as their bows and arrows were wrested from them. Jack looked at the jaffa around them, mentally calculating the odds of his and Grego's being able to take them out and escape. It didn't look good. Grego chose that moment to make the odds worse by making a grab for a weapon and getting himself zatted.

"You have made a big mistake, human." The lead jaffa spat in Jack's face. He hefted a staff weapon, and aimed it at Jack's face.

It clicked open.

Jack closed his eyes.

_Daniel_.

* * *

Sam couldn't stop the scream that escaped her, as for the fourth time Nirrti used the goa'uld hand device to try and pry information from her. How Nirrti expected her to be able to think enough about giving an answer while her brain was being fried eluded her.

"Why do you test my patience, Samantha?" Nirrti asked, irritated. "Are you forgetting I have your daughter at my mercy?"

Nirrti released Sam again, and signaled to a jaffa standing at the door, while Sam fell heavily to the ground. Unconsciousness seemed like a blessed haven to her, if she was only allowed to reach it . . .

"Perhaps we will try this another way." Nirrti said, yanking Sam's attention back to her. A jaffa carried in a box, and placed it on a table beside Nirrti, who reached in, and lifted out a baby.

"Samantha, meet your daughter."

Sam's heart screamed in agony. She knew what Nirrti was planning.

"Iris codes." Nirrti demanded.

Sam was shaking. "I told you, I don't know them. We've been away too long, the SGC will have changed them all as a matter of protocol."

Nirrti scowled. "Does your daughter's life really mean so little to you?" She took a small purple device from her robes, and held it over the baby in her arms. Sam didn't know what it was, but she wasn't taking the chance.

"No, please!" She screamed.

The device glowed bright magenta, but only for a second, as in the next second, everything was white, a bright, permeating white, everywhere.

* * *

Kollen and Makeen stood before a crowd of villagers out on the hill, when the bang sounded through the air like a bomb going off. White light was everywhere for a moment, and then it was gone, leaving nothing but that same crowd of people stunned by the intense light and noise.

In the next instant, chaos reigned. The people panicked, and ran away, back to their homes, convinced this was the first sign of the end.

And there, on the hillside, were a group of people who hadn't been there before. Kollen turned and saw them, immediately recognizing them.

"Wait! Wait!" He called to the crowd that were running away. They didn't listen. Instead he rushed to the group on the hill.

Jack was the only one conscious, the hunters still out from being zatted, and he crouched over Sam and a baby girl.

"Jack! What happened? Where did you come from?" Kollen yelled over the noise of people screaming in fear.

Jack ignored him, he was trying to wake Sam.

"Jack!" Kollen yelled again, pulling the younger man's shoulder until he listened.

"I don't know Kollen! I don't . . . God, I don't know!"

Jack stopped trying to rouse Sam, after checking that she was only unconscious, and seeing the burn on her forehead that indicated she'd be out for some time yet. He turned his attention instead to the baby. She was crying, and she had a piece of paper sticking out of the cloth she was wrapped in.

The handwriting was very familiar.

_Jack, _

_I did what I could. Look after them. Maybe I'll see you again some day._

_Daniel._

* * *

_What did you think? Only two chapters to go now!_

_Beka_


	39. Chapter 39

**_Lost - part 39_**

_Warning: pure silly mush. It had to be done. I couldn't bring them back to Amdra safe and sound without a little mush&fluff. It just wasn't possible._

* * *

Jack filled a glass with water, and then carried it back to the living room in the house he shared with Sam

Jack filled a glass with water, and then carried it back to the living room in the house he shared with Sam. He stopped in the doorway, and couldn't help but smile at the sight that greeted him. Sam was sitting in a rocking chair that Jack had made himself with their workbench, a blanket over her legs, and a tiny bundle in her arms that had brought them both more joy than either thought they were capable of experiencing. Tally O'Neill was now three days old.

Sam felt him watching her, and looked up to smile at him. She was glowing with happiness. "Heya. Is that for me?" She asked, nodding at the water. Jack nodded and came over, carefully lifting his baby daughter out of Sam's arms while she drank.

Tally was beautiful; his perfect baby girl. He hadn't felt like this since he'd held baby Charlie in his arms. It was the peace, the absolute love, it was overwhelming. She was sleeping, her dark blue eyes hidden behind tiny soft eyelids. There were soft wisps of blonde hair gracing the top of her head, just peeking out from the cocoon of blankets that shielded her from the cool air.

There weren't words to describe how relieved Jack had been to materialize on that hill with Sam and their baby beside him, alive. He'd scooped the baby up into his arms immediately after checking she was okay, and held her close to him while he tried to wake Sam. She, Sam, had been out cold, and had had to be carried to the healing house on a stretcher. She'd eventually awoken four hours later with a splitting headache, terrified for the life of her baby. It had taken quite a lot to calm her down and convince her that Tally was fine. The doctor, Haman, had been very thorough in his examination of the newborn baby, after what Sam had told them about the possibility that Nirrti had used some kind of alien device on her, but so far the little girl seemed fine. Jack would never forget the moment when Sam had held her baby in her arms for the first time, the way her eyes shined as she looked at him.

Sam had been released from the healing house earlier that day. The combined stress of Nirrti's hand device and having her baby removed, albeit early, had left her completely exhausted. Jack had been fussing over her, which so far she'd tolerated, but she knew eventually she'd have to break out of the regime of rest and relaxation the doctor and Jack had her on, or she'd go crazy. Her gaze shifted to the baby in Jack's arms, and she smiled fondly. Maybe she'd tolerate it for slightly longer than usual this time.

"Someone needs feeding." Jack commented, and passed Tally back to Sam so he could fetch the little girl some milk. It was goat's milk, since Sam hadn't advanced in her pregnancy far enough to be lactating herself.

Tally stirred in Sam's arms, her tiny fists waving in the air as she blinked her way back into consciousness.

"Hey sweetheart." Sam greeted her softly. Tally looked at her through big blue eyes, opening her mouth like a goldfish.

Jack came back with a bottle. "Are you hungry, baby?" Sam cooed to her daughter. She held the milk bottle to Tally's lips and watched in wonder as the little girl latched onto it and began to drink.

"What's happening with Nassem?" Sam asked Jack, her eyes still on the baby.

Jack sighed. "He's been dismissed from the council, but that's it. He won't be allowed to take a position of authority for the rest of his life."

Sam nodded. "And Nirrti's definitely gone?"

"I went back down to the lab again this morning before you came home. The sensors still don't show any ships in the area, and the subspace signal . . . thing, has been turned off. I think."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "You _think_?"

Jack shrugged defensively. "I don't know how those machines work, I just read what's on the screens. But, as Daniel seems to have got rid of Nirrti, the jaffa, and saved you and Tally, I think we can assume he turned off the signal and made sure that Nirrti wasn't coming back as well."

They held each other's gaze for a moment. "What do you think happened to him?"

"I don't know."

Sam nodded. "I guess as he hasn't come back that the others did something to him."

"Yeah." Jack bowed his head. He didn't like the thought that Daniel had suffered for helping them. After all, he'd put a lot of pressure on his ascended friend to do something, and now he was gone. Still . . . he looked at Sam and Tally, and sorry as he was that Daniel had had to make a sacrifice for them, he was more grateful than he could express that he had his girls back home, and safe.

"He saved our lives." Sam said, looking at Tally sadly.

"Yes, he did." Jack dragged a chair over and sat down next to her.

Sam stroked Tally's cheek gently, lovingly. "So what now?"

Jack smiled at her. "Now? Now, we raise our little girl."

He grinned to himself. Who knew that seven months on an alien world would change his life so much? He put his arm round her, and Sam rested her head against his shoulder.

"It's good to be home." She said.

"Yes," Jack said, kissing her forehead, "it sure is."

Sam closed her eyes, blissfully calm.

Jack smirked.

"What?" Sam asked, grinning up at him.

"We're just a living cliché at times, aren't we?"

Sam gave him a playful shove. "Shut up, you idiot."

Jack grinned and dropped another kiss into her hair. "I love you."

She looked up at him, feeling completely at home in his eyes. "I love you too."

* * *

_Only one chapter left! Aaaaaa! _

_As always, please review. You only have to do it twice more. Then that's it. Finito. It's so sad!  
_

_Beka :-)_


	40. Chapter 40

_**Lost – part 40**_

_**FINAL CHAPTER**_

_Oh. My. God. _

_I'm at the end of the road. The last hurdle. A stone's throw away. Anyone got any more clichés I can ruin? _

_Ok, silliness aside, this IS the last chapter in the story 'Lost: SG1 Style!' There are a few things I want to say after it ends, so please, READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM. _

_Now before you go off reading, I just want to say that I borrowed heavily from the episode 'Fallen' from Season 7 in this chapter, and also a scene from Season 1's 'Singularity'. This disclaimer at the beginning of the story stands: it's not mine! Believe me, I wish it were!_

_And, I cannot emphasize enough, READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END!!_

* * *

On an alien world, far away form Amdra, a man lay naked on the ground, unconscious.

Four men approached the prone figure. He opened his blue eyes, to see the blurry image of the men standing over him.

"Who are you?" One asked. He frowned, searching his memory, but he couldn't find it.

"I don't know."

* * *

They called him Arrom, meaning 'Naked One'. It didn't matter to him – he didn't mind much what name he answered to. He couldn't remember who he was, or where he was from, so what did he care what they called him?

Arrom was lost. He wanted – no, he _needed_ to know who he was. All he knew was this world, and all he knew of that was that he didn't belong on it. Sometimes, when he really tried, he felt that his memory was within touching distance, and if he just reached out . . . but then it was gone, and he was lost again.

He stayed with the nomadic tribe who had found him, learning of them, learning their ways. They had allowed him to join them, but they were wary. He had just appeared among them naked, with no memory, after all. Mostly, he sought solitude, in the forest, in the ruins, and in the tent they had allowed him to stay in.

After two passages of the moon in their midst, he had still found nothing in his head of his past. He had become convinced that the answer lay elsewhere, but had no clue where that 'elsewhere' might be.

It was on that day, that the strangers came. Arrom was out walking, trying again to reach his memories in the cool breeze of the fields. He came back through the bushes, which were dried up from the heat of the summer that was reaching its end. And it was there that he met them.

Four people, three men and a woman, all dressed in dark green uniforms, and pointing weapons at him.

It wasn't the weapons that struck him the most though; it was the look they were giving him. Like they knew him. They lowered their weapons cautiously.

"Dr Jackson?" One man asked. Arrom frowned.

"They call me Arrom. Who are you?"

The man who had asked the question took a step towards him. Arrom instinctively backed away.

"I'm Colonel Dixon. I'm the leader of SG-3." The man replied.

"You . . . you know me?" Arrom asked.

The group in front of him, who he took to be SG-3, looked confused.

"Of course. You don't remember?" Dixon asked, looking confused.

Arrom shook his head. "I don't remember anything."

* * *

Arrom allowed the group to lead him back to the centre of the encampment. He was intrigued: these people seemed to think they knew him. But he was also a little wary of them. After all, he thought he would recognize them if he really had known them.

"Colonel!" Dixon called out to some more men, who wore the same uniforms as they did. "We found something you might want to see."

Colonel Reynolds, leader of SG-1, turned round. He felt Teal'c drawing up beside him.

"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said, his voice holding not a small amount of awe.

"Arrom." One of the natives interjected.

Reynolds turned to look at the man. "Arrom?"

"It's what we call him." The native said.

"It means 'Naked One'." The old man informed him.

"That's how we found him in the forest, two moons ago."

Arrom looked at the large dark-skinned man, hoping to feel some sense of recognition. Nope, nothing.

Teal'c correctly interpreted the blank look Daniel was giving him. "Do you not recognize me, Daniel Jackson?"

Arrom shook his head. "No. I'm sorry." He pushed past the group and walked away.

* * *

Teal'c found Daniel in a tent, sitting staring at the wall with a frown.

"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c greeted him. Daniel didn't look up.

"Please leave me alone."

Teal'c hesitated at the entrance. "You do not remember who you are?"

Daniel sighed. "No. But you think you know me."

Teal'c took this as permission to enter, and sat down opposite his old friend. "I do. You are Dr Daniel Jackson, a good friend of mine."

Daniel gestured around him. "This tent is all I know. These people, they're all I know. Before I woke up in the forest, I don't remember anything. I've tried, I've tried to remember who I was before. Sometimes I think it's right there, floating in front of me, and all I have to do is reach out and grab it. I try . . . and it's gone."

Teal'c nodded, deeply concerned. "Do you wish for me to tell you who you are?" He had concerns about not letting Daniel remember of his own accord, but was willing to attempt to jog his memory, if he so desired.

Daniel looked up at Teal'c, searching his face for anything familiar. "Okay, why not?"

"You are from a planet called Earth. You were a member of a team called SG-1, until your ascension one year ago."

Daniel interrupted with a wave of his hand. "Wait, wait, wait – _ascension_?"

Teal'c inclined his head. "Indeed. As I understand it, when a being reaches a state of absolute enlightenment, they can shed their physical body and exist as energy. You achieved this state after receiving a life threatening injury."

"You mean . . . I died?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"So what am I doing here?"

Teal'c frowned. "Of that I am unsure. Ascended beings are able to retake human form if they wish, but in my experience they do not forfeit their memory when doing so."

Daniel sighed. "You have to understand, this is a little hard to accept."

Teal'c smiled slightly. "Daniel Jackson, if it were not true, then why, of all the planets in the galaxy, would you appear here, where SG-1 were shortly to visit?"

"You think I chose this planet? And yet voluntarily lost my memory?"

"I think that there are many possible explanations. Perhaps you did not choose to retake human form, or to lose your memory, but were sent down by the other ascended beings as punishment."

"Punishment for what?"

Teal'c hesitated. "I do not know. This is only a hypothesis. However, you are a man of great social conscience, and the ascended Ancients have a strict policy of non-interference. It is not impossible that you used your power to intervene in a situation, and were punished for doing so."

He couldn't have explained why, but Arrom, or Daniel, as he was beginning to think of himself, was not dismissing the idea, ludicrous as it sounded. It actually made a strange sort of sense to him.

Teal'c watched his friend think in silence. He knew it would take time for Daniel to accept the truth, stripped as he was of his memory. He was relieved, however, to see Daniel again, whatever the circumstances. Although he didn't show it, Teal'c had sorely missed his friends. Losing Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill so soon after the death of Daniel Jackson had been hard, and SG-1 had never felt the same to him since. He had even considered leaving them, and continuing his fight alongside Bra'tac instead. He had remained though, as he realized his decision would have been selfish, focused on his own feelings of loneliness, rather than the best interests of his people.

"Will you return with us?" Teal'c asked eventually.

Daniel pressed his fingers to his temples. "I don't know."

"Your memory may return more quickly in familiar surroundings." Teal'c pointed out.

"What if I don't like who I was?" Daniel blurted out. It was an issue that he had been worried about. While he was dying to know who he was, to have some semblance of self to cling to, he was still apprehensive. "What if you're right, and I _am_ being punished for something . . . and I have no way to atone for it?"

"I must admit, that had not occurred to me." Teal'c said. "But I do not believe that to be the case. If this is a punishment, it is for trying to do good, rather than doing nothing while others are persecuted. You are a man of great integrity. You value the lives of others far above your own."

"That actually sounds kind of hard to live up to." Daniel said with a small smile.

"I have utmost confidence in you." Teal'c said. "And . . . I would be glad to have a valued friend returned."

Daniel frowned a little. "Yeah, about that. The other members of the, uh, team, didn't seem as excited to see me."

Teal'c nodded. "I am the only remaining member of the SG-1 you were a part of. Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter have been officially 'Missing in Action' for almost nine months now."

"Oh." Daniel nodded. "So who were they?"

Teal'c rummaged in his pack, and found a photo of the original SG-1, taken at a barbecue at Jack's house, eighteen months previously. Daniel took it and studied it. He touched the image of Jack, feeling something flash in his mind. He didn't catch it, but he felt that sense familiarity he had been looking for.

"I think . . . I think I remember them." His finger moved to the image of Sam, and suddenly, he caught a flash of her.

_Sam was standing at the foot of a bed. In it lay a young girl, asleep. Daniel approached Sam, and looked over her shoulder at the little girl. He realized Sam was crying, and his heart went out to her._

"_How could they do this?" She asked, her voice catching._

_He sighed. "Well, to a Goa'uld, she's not as we see her. She's a tool. Her death is a very cheap way to get rid of us." _

_Tears ran down Sam's face. "I know I'm supposed to be detached..."_

_Daniel felt shocked. "Who said that?"_

_Sam looked at him in surprise for a second, then turned her gaze back to the little girl. "Sometimes I forget you're not military."_

Daniel looked up at Teal'c in surprise. "I remember . . . I remember talking to Captain Carter. She was upset about a little girl."

Teal'c nodded. "That was some time ago. Samantha Carter has been promoted to Major since then."

"And now she's missing." Daniel said. Teal'c nodded sadly.

"As is Colonel O'Neill."

Daniel stood up. "Okay. I'll come back with you. But I want to be free to come back here if I choose."

Teal'c stood up with him. "I am sure that will be acceptable. I am glad that you have decided to return. I have missed you."

Daniel watched him leave the tent, smiling slightly. For the first time in his memory, he felt a shred of hope.

* * *

Teal'c found Daniel, after quite a lengthy search, on the surface of Cheyenne Mountain. It was night, and Daniel was sitting on a rock, staring at the stars.

"Are you alright, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked, moving to stand beside his friend. Daniel looked up at him and nodded.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking."

Teal'c sat down beside him. "Is there anything you would like to talk about?"

"No, it's okay, it's just . . . no, I just want to sit for awhile, and look at the stars."

"May I accompany you?"

"Sure."

They sat together in silence, looking at the stars and thinking.

"Do you think Sam and Jack are alive?" Daniel asked eventually.

Teal'c stole a glance at the younger man. He had suspected that something of this nature was on Daniel's mind.

"I hope that they are."

Daniel sighed. "I just look up there, and I can almost convince myself that somewhere out there, they're okay." He said, gazing upwards.

Teal'c said nothing. There really was nothing he could say.

"I wonder if they ever do this."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at Daniel, confused.

"Look up at the stars, think about home . . ." Daniel explained.

"I am certain that they do." Teal'c said, returning his gaze to the sky.

* * *

Sam lay on her back, stretching out on a rug outside their house, Jack's arm acting as her pillow. Tally lay on her chest, sleeping, and Jack's free hand rested protectively over her.

"So which way is Earth, anyway?" Jack asked.

Sam frowned at the sky, and then pointed up at the stars. "That way, I think."

Jack squinted at it. "Huh. Wonder what they're up to these days."

Sam carefully sat up, cradling Tally in her arms, and then kissing Jack softly on the lips when he sat up with her.

"Do you miss home?" Sam asked him.

Jack looked at the stars contemplatively. "Yeah, sometimes. But to be honest, I'd rather be here with you and Tally, than back home without you."

Sam smiled, sadly, tears pricking at her eyes. "Do you think we'll ever get home?"

Jack sighed and pulled her into his arms.

"Maybe. One day."

END!!

* * *

_OK. This is it. The end. _

_For those of you who wanted to see Sam and Jack get home (and from the reviews, I'm guessing there's quite a few of you out there), I have one word for you:_

_Sequel._

_There will be a sequel. Technically speaking, there already IS a sequel, as I wrote it before this. So really, this is more of a . . . _prequel_. Anyhoo, fret not. They will get home. However, I am about to start my exams at uni, so I am unlikely to start posting it until July. (I also need to do some work on it, since I changed a few things along the way during Lost). Watch out for it, though. It is likely to be called 'Found: SG1 Style'._

_Secondly, I cannot say thank you enough for all the reviews I got. I have been overwhelmed by the support for this story, and I loved every minute of reading your messages/ideas/speculations/etc. Thank you! Cookies and hugs for all of you! _

_Thirdly (yes, I know, shut up Beka!) a big big big big big BIG thank you to those reviewers who have stuck with me since the beginning of this story, and gave me not only support, but some constructive criticism too. You guys kept me going, and when I strayed off character you reigned me back in. I'd name names but I'm scared of accidentally missing people out and offending them. Suffice it to say that you know who you are. THANK YOU!! _

_Okay, signing off now. sniff sniff_

_Beka :-D_

_Heh heh heh. You didn't really think you'd get away without me asking for reviews did you? Let me know what you thought of the last chapter, or the whole story, in its entirety! Just one last time! Please?_

_Thank you._

22ND JUNE 2008: THE SEQUEL IS NOW UP. IT IS CALLED 'FOUND: SG1 STYLE!', AND CAN BE FOUND ON MY PROFILE PAGE, OR BY DOING A SEARCH FOR THE STORY TITLE.

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